IV. WALKTHROUGH AND BATTLE STRATEGIES - MAIN QUEST 00walk0 ******************************************************************************** You'll begin by entering the protagonist's name. Ramza is the default, so that's what I'll be using throughout the guide. ---CHOOSING YOUR BITHDATE--- Next up is your birthdate, which determines your Zodiac sign. A character's Zodiac sign affects his/her compatibility with other units, which can make your attacks and/or healing somewhat more or less effective. In a regular game, it's not too important to give Ramza a particular Zodiac sign, so you can enter your own birthday or whatever else you want if you'd like. But, if you're feeling especially strategic, you may want to give him a particular sign depending on your game plans: > If you want to maximize the damage Ramza 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. > If you plan to use Ramza as a support/healing character, Pisces will give him good compatibility with a number of key allies. You'll get this sign with a birthdate between February 19th and March 20th. (Virgo -- August 23rd to September 22nd -- will give him compatibility with quite a few party members as well.) > If you want as wide a range of Zodiac signs as possible, you could make Ramza a Taurus, Virgo, or Sagittarius, as no other story characters have these signs. ---THE FIRST BATTLE--- The game starts at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy knights shows up, and you have to fight. ---Battle 0: Orbonne Monastery-------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Agrias [guest], Gaffgarion [guest], Ladd [guest], Alicia [guest], Lavian [guest] ENEMY FORCES: Lezales (lv 9 Knight) Fuchs (lv 6 Chemist) Biggs (lv 7 Archer) Diesch (lv 6 Archer) Wezlef (lv 7 Archer) VICTORY CONDITION: KO all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Day, light rain (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 14 x 10 Grassland Tanglevine 50% Wooden Floor Will-o'-the-Wisp 16% Ocean Torrent 14% Obstructed -- 9% Flagstone Contortion 9% Stone Outcropping Tremor 1% --STRATEGY-- 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. You can have Ramza attack the enemies with low HP to help finish them off, and let Gaffgarion and Agrias save their attacks for the stronger enemies. Even if Ramza just stands still, though, the other characters should be able to finish off the enemies on their own, though, so it doesn't matter too much what Ramza does. 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 intro battle. It also doesn't matter if any of their items get broken, as those will come back as well. BATTLE TROPHIES: None -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%walk1 All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as a knight-in-training with the Order of the Northern Sky a year prior. 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 other Squires and two Chemists. ---INITIAL PREPARATION--- Before the first battle begins, you'll be given a chance to save. Save your game so that you won't have to repeat the intro battle! After you save, you'll deploy your characters for the battle. If this is your first Final Fantasy Tactics experience, you might want to check out the "Basic Mechanics and Tactics" section for some general gameplay information. (Some of this information is also in the tutorial, but I've included some additional material not covered there.) Press Ctrl+F and enter 00basic to jump back up there. ---Battle 1: Gariland----------------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Chemist (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, female) ALLY: Ramza - lv 1 Squire - Bravery 70, Faith 70 Equipment : Broadsword, Leather Cap, Clothing, Battle Boots Abilities : Mettle GUEST: Delita [Sagittarius] - lv 1 Squire - Bravery 71, Faith 55 Equipment : Broadsword, Leather Cap, Clothing Abilities : Mettle, other abilities random VICTORY CONDITION: KO all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 15 x 10 Flagstone Contortion 28% Canal Torrent 25% Roof, Chimney Wind Blast 17% Grassland Tanglevine 17% Wooden Floor, Coffer Will-o'-the-Wisp 8% Bridge Wind Slash 3% Obstructed -- 1% --STRATEGY-- The key in this battle is to 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 at this point, no enemies have shields, 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. (Chemists have an inherent Throw Items 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.) Don't worry about Delita. The Guest AI is pretty reckless and it's likely he'll get himself KOed. But since he's a Guest character, he can't die permanently and will be revived at the end of the battle. BATTLE TROPHIES: 2000 gil, Mythril Knife, Phoenix Down, Potion -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---THE MAP SCREEN--- After you win the battle against the thieves, 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. Later on, you can also use it to enter the multiplayer mode and to run Errands for extra JP and money. The Outfitter is used to buy equipment and items. Finally, the Warriors' Guild allows you to recruit new human characters to your roster. ---RECRUITING CHARACTERS--- You may want to stop at the Warriors' Guild to 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 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 ... but it's certainly not necessary to spend the time here if you don't want to. There are a few gender differences to be aware of. Male characters tend to have more HP and Physical Attack, while females have more MP and Magick Attack. So, if you have a gender-mixed team, it's best develop female characters towards being mages and males towards being fighters. More importantly, however, many of the game's most powerful items can only be used by female characters, so female recruits tend to be more useful overall in the long run. 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 usually better off resetting. It's tough to replace high-level characters who have already been built up with a lot of abilities! ---SHOPPING--- Each town has an Outfitter where you can buy items. As you progress through the game, you'll see new items available in the Outfitter. Different towns will offer different items, as well. Broadly speaking, castles have one set of equipment, whereas towns and cities have a different set. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Broadsword Sword 200 Garil./Castl Atk: 4, 5% Parry Dagger Knife 100 City/Castle Atk: 3, 5% Parry Rod Rod 200 City/TrCity Atk: 3, 20% Parry Oak Staff Staff 120 City/TrCity Atk: 3, 15% Parry Leather Cap Hat 150 City/TrCity HP +8 Clothing Clothes 150 City/TrCity HP +5 Potion Item 50 Any Restores 30 HP Antidote Item 50 Any Removes: Poison Eye Drops Item 50 Any Removes: Blind Phoenix Down Item 300 Any Removes: KO, restores minimal HP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You should definitely stop by the Outfitter 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 that you picked up as a Battle Trophy in the first battle; it's stronger than the Daggers they currently have. If you recruited some female characters and plan on using them as fighting units, buy them Broadswords to replace the Daggers they start off with. Male characters already start with a Broadsword. ---A NOTE ABOUT TREASURE HUNTER--- From this point forward, you can use the Chemist's Treasure Hunter movement ability to find hidden items on each battle map. In my opinion, the Treasure Hunter ability is rarely worth using. The items that you can get with Treasure Hunter are usually just gear that you can already buy in stores. Moreover, you need a LOW Bravery statistic to get the equipment with Treasure Hunter, but a HIGH Bravery statistic is better for everything else in the game. It's just not worth it. Much later in the game, there will be some rare items that you can get with Treasure Hunter, but I'll alert you to these when they appear and you don't really need to worry about Treasure Hunter until then. But, if you DO want to go for the Treasure Hunter items, I've listed their coordinates in each battle strategy. The coordinates are given relative to a particular corner. First, identify which corner is the reference corner using the tile height and terrain type information I've provided. Then, tap the analog stick (on the PSP) or swipe the screen (on an iPhone/iPad) to change your perspective. Keep doing this until the reference corner is at the bottom of the screen. Start at this corner. Then, tap the LEFT and UP arrows on the D-pad to move the cursor the specified number of spaces (e.g., Left: 2, Up: 3 means 2 tiles to the left and 3 tiles up). (See the Treasure Hunter & Traps section for a more complete description of the Treasure Hunter mechanics.) ---ONWARD--- Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to Mandalia Plain. As soon as you try to 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. ---Battle 2: Mandalia Plain----------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Thief (lv 2, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Squire (lv 1, male) Red Panther (lv 1) GUEST: Argath [Virgo] - lv 2 Squire - Bravery 73, Faith 59 Equipment : Longsword, Leather Cap, Clothing, Battle Boots Abilities : Fundaments, other abilities random VICTORY CONDITION: KO all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Top option - Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone Bottom option - Argath is KOed or Ramza dies WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 13 x 12 Grassland Tanglevine 70% Obstructed -- 17% Stone Outcropping Tremor 13% --STRATEGY-- 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 (top option). > 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 and Argath. 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. Neither option has any real long-term effect on the storyline. (They only change the dialogue in one other story scene.) So, the first option is clearly the best as it makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery. If you DO choose the second option for whatever reason, you will need to protect Argath from being KOed. In this case, you'll need to 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 the enemies 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 may 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 short amount of time, 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 tile with the crystal or chest. > Picking up a chest will give you an item. These are typically items you can buy at the Outfitter anyway and generally are not too important to collect. But early on, chests can still be useful to grab as money is tighter. > 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 ever give you the option to heal. When given the chance to learn abilities, that's generally the best choice (unless you're in desperate need of healing), 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. You may also want to grab crystals just to prevent the enemies from claiming them, as enemies can heal themselves with crystals too! 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 ability and you have Phoenix Downs in stock, you can use a 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1, Stone Outcropping POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 4, Up: 8 (height: 2, Grassland) Hi-Potion Broadsword none Left: 0, Up: 12 (height: 1, Grassland) Potion Dagger none Left: 8, Up: 6 (height: 0, Grassland) Eye Drops Oak Staff none Left: 4, Up: 0 (height: 0, Grassland) Antidote Rod none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---STORY EVENTS--- When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which option you chose 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. ---JOB CHANGES--- 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. (I made Ramza into a Knight at this point.) Archers should also be available at this time. They can be useful in the early game, but for the next few battles you may want to focus on melee combat. At any rate, it may be 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 particularly useful. JP Boost increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other abilities faster. Learning this ability is a VERY good investment. It'll also 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*. ---SHOPPING AT EAGROSE--- Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There's new equipment for sale here. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Plumed Hat Hat 350 TrCity/City HP +16, MP +5 Leather Clothing Clothes 300 TrCity/City HP +10 Mythril Knife Knife 500 Castle/City Atk: 4, 5% Parry Longsword Sword 500 Castle Atk: 5, 10% Parry Bowgun Crossbw 400 Castle Atk: 3, 5% Parry Escutcheon Shield 400 Castle Phy.Evade: 10%, Mag.Evade: 3% Leather Helm Helm 200 Castle HP +10 Bronze Helm Helm 500 Castle HP +20 Leather Armor Armor 200 Castle HP +10 Linen Cuirass Armor 600 Castle HP +20 Battle Boots Shoes 1000 Any Move +1 Echo Herbs Item 50 Any Removes: Silence Maiden's Kiss Item 50 Any Removes: Toad Gold Needle Item 100 Any Removes: Stone -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. And 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 only 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 as this is, they're pricey, so you won't be able to afford them for your whole team. ---TRAVEL & RANDOM BATTLES--- Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head down that direction. Mandalia Plain is now a green dot on the map, which means there's a chance you'll get into a random battle when crossing it. Random battles are similar to story battles, but feature a somewhat random selection of enemies and contain mostly monsters rather than human enemies. In Chapter I, you'll mostly fight basic monsters, but there's a rare chance you'll encounter a second type of enemy party that may include humans or more advanced monsters. Because Delita and Argath are Guest characters, they will not participate in random battles, only story ones. In random battles, you do have the choice of whether or not to deploy Ramza, whereas he is always REQUIRED for story battles. ---MULTIPLAYER MODES--- On the PSP version, when you get to Gariland, you'll see a scene at the Tavern about the game's multiplayer modes. Both of these modes are now unlocked, and you can play them by visiting a Tavern in any town. Melee Mode is a "versus" mode that pits your party against another player's. Rendezvous Mode is a co-op mode in which you team up with another player to challenge various missions that will become unlocked as you play through the game. Right now, there's only one mission available, "Chocobo Defense." Both modes allow you to earn and keep JP and items; when you get to a high enough experience level, you can even obtain items that you can't get anywhere else. Another nice thing about these modes is that you can't permanently lose any items or characters, so they're risk- free. (Melee Mode does cost gil to play, though.) You can check them out now if you want, although at this point, the Rendezvous Mode mission may still be pretty challenging. Check out the Multiplayer Modes section below for more information on the modes' rules and for strategies for the Rendezvous Mode missions. (Note that both modes are playable only over a local, "ad hoc" connection.) The iOS version unfortunately does not have the multiplayer modes (at least as of this writing), but you'll eventually be able to buy the special rare items that PSP users can find in the multiplayer modes. If you don't have a chance to play the multiplayer modes, don't worry, you definitely don't need to play multiplayer in order to complete the single- player game. ---SHOPPING AT GARILAND--- The shop in Gariland sells different items than the one in Eagrose, so stop by the Outfitter before you leave town. The Gariland shop offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which are better armor for your Squires and Chemists. (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!) Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! The Plumed Hat in particular is a good buy; it costs less than the Leather Clothing but gives you a bigger HP bonus! Don't forget that you can 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! Continue on to the Weald and you'll encounter a third story battle. ---Battle 3: The Siedge Weald--------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Bomb* Bomb* Red Panther* Black Goblin* Black Goblin* Goblin* Goblin* * 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: Day, light rain (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 11 Grassland Tanglevine 65% Marsh Quicksand 21% Bridge Wind Slash 5% Soil Sinkhole 4% Obstructed -- 4% Stone Outcropping Tremor 1% --STRATEGY-- This battle is nothing but monsters; watch out for their counterattacks! If you do have some range attacks, those will keep you safe from the counterattacks -- all monsters can only counterattack at a range of 1 panel. But it doesn't really matter either way, since these monsters aren't too tough for the most part anyway. 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 4.5, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 10 (height: 3.5, Grassl.) Echo Herbs Bowgun none Left: 6, Up: 5 (height: 2, Grassland) Hi-Potion Leather Cap none Left: 1, Up: 3 (height: 3.5, Grassl.) Phoenix Down Escutcheon none Left: 5, Up: 0 (height: 1.5, Grassl.) Potion Leather Helm none ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- You may want to gain some levels and abilities before proceeding on to Dorter. You can do this by strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain or the Siedge Weald until you get into a random battle. Beat up the monsters to earn extra Exp and JP. Make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down. You can skip the abilities for all the items that cure individual status condition; most of these conditions aren't that bad and when you get Remedies, those will cure *any* negative status. Learning Move +1 for as many characters as possible is also very helpful. When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you'll be tossed into a battle at the Dorter Slums. ---Battle 4: Dorter Slums------------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Knight (lv 4, male) Archer (lv 3, male) Archer (lv 3, male) Archer (lv 3, male) Black Mage (lv 3, male) Black Mage (lv 2, male) VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 16 x 10 Roof Wind Blast 39% Soil Sinkhole 36% Ocean Torrent 11% Grassland Tanglevine 9% Coffer Will-o'-the-Wisp 3% Flagstone Contortion 3% --STRATEGY-- 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! Since you start on the street and the enemy has the high ground, Archers are not particularly useful here; they won't have a clear shot with their bows. 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. 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 sometimes 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! Two of the enemy Archers are 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 those 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 KOs the character again right away, the counter will be reset and you've bought yourself a few more turns to finish the battle. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don't win at first, try again, or build up your levels first. BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Iron Sword, Hempen Robe, Ether --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1.5, Soil POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 4 (height: 1, Soil) Antidote Leather Armor none Left: 6, Up: 1 (height: 9, Roof) Echo Herbs Mythril Knife none Left: 4, Up: 12 (height: 3.5, Grassl.) Eye Drops Clothing none Left: 7, Up: 14 (height: 1.5, Soil) Phoenix Down Longsword none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 the Slums will have netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than anything you can find in stores. Equip it on 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 Sietch. ---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 (lv 5, male) Knight (lv 4, male) Knight (lv 3, male) Monk (lv 4, male) Monk (lv 3, male) Archer (lv 3, male) VICTORY CONDITION: KO, petrify, recruit, or Vampirize all enemies 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 Soil Sinkhole 38% Grassland Tanglevine 26% Flagstone, Stone Wall Contortion 26% Obstructed -- 9% Coffer Will-o'-the-Wisp 1% --STRATEGY-- 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 run into the building, but keep healing him anyway. If you were able to give him a Black Magick spell, 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. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter I--so it may take you a couple tries. BATTLE TROPHIES: 500 gil, Hi-Potion, Blind Knife --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 3, Soil POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 9, Up: 10 (height: 3, Grassland) Eye Drops Leather Clothes none Left: 4, Up: 5 (height: 0, Grassland) Potion Bronze Helm none Left: 2, Up: 6 (height: 2, Coffer) Hi-Potion Plumed Hat none Left: 0, Up: 10 (height: 0, Soil) Antidote Linen Cuirass none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you win at the Sietch, 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 (making their attacks easier for you to dodge), so give it to a Chemist. ---ZEKLAUS WILDERNESS--- Zeklaus Desert now becomes another "wilderness" location where you can get into random battles. The map you'll see in random battles at Zeklaus Desert is actually completely different from the Sand Rat's Sietch map. ---Extra Battlefield: Zeklaus Desert-------------------------------------------- MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 18 x 10 Sand Sandstorm 62% Stone Outcropping Tremor 36% Obstructed -- 2% Note that there's a very valuable pair of Battle Boots stashed on this map that you can acquire with the Treasure Hunter movement ability. As with most good Treasure Hunter items, your chance of getting this item goes UP with LOWER Bravery. --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 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---NEW MISSION & SHOPPING--- 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. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Ice Rod Rod 400 TrCity/City Atk: 3, 20% Parry, ice elemental, Boosts: Ice, Spell Effect: Ice Flame Rod Rod 400 TrCity/City Atk: 3, 20% Parry, fire elemental, Boosts: Fire, Spell Effect: Fire Thunder Rod Rod 400 TrCity/City Atk: 3, 20% Parry, lightning elemental, Boosts: Lightning, Spell Effect: Thunder White Staff Staff 800 TrCity/City Atk: 3, 15% Parry, Removes (from target): Doom Red Hood Hat 800 TrCity/City HP +24, MP +8 Leather Plate Clothes 500 TrCity/City HP +18 Hempen Robe Robe 1200 TrCity/City HP +10, MP +10 Blind Knife Knife 800 Castle/City Atk: 4, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Blind Iron Sword Sword 900 Castle Atk: 6, 5% Parry Longbow Bow 800 Castle Atk: 4, 0% Parry Buckler Shield 700 Castle Phy.Evade: 13%, Mag.Evade: 3% Iron Helm Helm 1000 Castle HP +30 Bronze Armor Armor 800 Castle HP +30 Shoulder Cape Cloak 300 Any Phy.Evade: 10%, Mag.Evade: 10% Hi-Potion Item 200 Any Restores 70 HP -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 rods and staves at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen Robes, which will give them more MP. 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. But 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. Since you should have a lot more than 30 HP by now, you'll need the healing boost. You can't use Hi-Potions unless you've learned the Chemist's Hi-Potion ability, so be sure to have your item-users learn this ability. Since there's a lot to buy, you might not be able to afford to buy all of the new gear. Aside from restocking your item supply, the priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the Leather Plate or Red Hood at Gariland. Note that the Iron Helm and Bronze Armor both give you the same HP bonus, but the Bronze Armor is cheaper! If you can't buy all the armor, the Bronze Armor is definitely a better buy than the Iron Helm. After you're done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands' Den, south of the Mandalia Plain. ---Battle 6: Brigands' Den------------------------------------------------------ YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], Argath [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda (lv 7 Knight) Thief (lv 6, male) Thief (lv 5, male) White Mage (lv 6, female) White Mage (lv 5, female) BOSS: Milleuda [Virgo] - lv 7 female Knight - Bravery 68, Faith 58 Equipment : Iron Shield, Bronze Shield, Iron Helm, Chainmail, Power Gauntlet Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Parry, random Squire support ability, Move +1 VICTORY CONDITION: KO Milleuda LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Day, rainstorm (evade rate vs. bows x 1.33, fire dmg -25%, lightning dmg +25%) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 12 x 10 Wooden Floor Will-o'-the-Wisp 37% Ocean Torrent 30% Flagstone Contortion 21% Grassland Tanglevine 12% --STRATEGY-- You may want to deploy more male characters than female ones here since there's a chance that one of the male Thieves can Charm a female character, making her temporarily fight against you. But this is pretty unlikely, so don't go out of your way to adjust your roster. Also, 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.) It's definitely not essential to have them, but it'll help you out if you do. I recommend standing up on the 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. Check their status; at least one of them will have Black Magicks as a secondary ability. A Black Magick-wielding mage is the most dangerous, so if either or both have Black Magick, you'll generally want to target them first. (You can use the same tricks you used in Dorter to avoid their magick.) However, one of the White Mages might have the Items ability. If an Item-using Mage comes out of the fort and starts using Hi-Potions, you'll need to concentrate on KOing her instead to prevent her from healing all the other 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 more deadly is the Steal Heart attack they may use on your female characters, which will temporarily turn them to the enemy side. That's why it can be advantageous to deploy more male characters here. Milleuda is the game's first boss character. KOing a boss will end the battle instantly, even if there are other enemies left standing. If you're in danger, you can 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 2, Wooden Floor POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 0 (height: 2, Wooden Fl.) Phoenix Down Longbow none Left: 8, Up: 10 (height: 2, Grassland) Antidote Flame Rod none Left: 4, Up: 9 (height: 3, Wooden Fl.) Echo Herbs White Staff none *Left: 7,Up: 10 (height: 10, Wooden F.) Eye Drops Ice Rod none * Requires Jump of 4 or greater. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---STORY SCENES--- The Brigands' Den is easier than the Sand Rat's Sieve, so if you won there, you should be able to attain victory here. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as the Corpse Brigade strikes back. Victory at the Brigands' Den will have earned you a Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you've got at this point. Don't forget to equip it. 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. Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will play. ---JOB CHANGES--- At this point, you'll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven't already. If you can 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 ability 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. But, you'll still want a healer, so the best move is to change a Chemist to another job and then equip Items as a secondary ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, though, you need to learn (and equip) the Throw Items ability. Without Throw Items, your items will have a range of only 1 tile, and, as Sonic would say, that's NO GOOD! Keep in mind that male characters generally have somewhat higher HP and Physical Attack, while females have somewhat more HP and Magick Attack. So, it makes the most sense to assign fighting jobs like Knight and Archer to males, and magick- oriented jobs like Black and White Mage to females. Also remember that a higher Faith makes your magick stronger, so when you're deciding what character(s) to turn into a mage, it's advantageous to pick someone with a high Faith. If you change jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for your new jobs. If you've got an Archer, you'll need to decide whether to use a crossbow or a regular bow. A crossbow only require one hand, allowing you to equip a shield. On the other hand, bows deal more damage, have a longer range (which increases even more when you have a height advantage), and fire in an "arc" pattern that often allows you to shoot over obstacles in your way. Since Archers are usually in the back line and don't get attacked too much, a shield isn't too important. Regular bows are almost always the best choice. For Black Mages, you can choose between the Flame, Ice, and Thunder Rods (sold at Gariland and Dorter). These rods boost the damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks, respectively. A good trick is to buy a particular Rod and then learn some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Ice Rod and then try to learn Blizzard and Blizzara). This will increase the damage you can do with your magick. (The rods will also increase the power of the Ifrit, Shiva, and Ramuh summons, respectively.) 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. As far as choosing between the Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder families of magick, they all do the same amounts of raw damage under normal circumstances. They differ only in their elemental affinities, which means they can do more or less damage in certain cases: > Fire magick does extra damage to a number of early-game monster types (Skeletons and Ghosts), but it gets weaker during thunderstorms and doesn't work against the Bomb family. (It also does more damage to enemies afflicted with Oil status, but this status condition almost never happens.) > Blizzard magick is good against many late-game monsters, but the only early- game monster family weak to ice is Goblins, which are pretty easy anyway. Blizzard magick gets stronger during a snowstorm, but these are very rare. > Thunder magick gets stronger during a thunderstorm, and no monsters are immune to it. But, only one monster family (Mindflayers) is weak to it. Overall, Thunder is probably your best pick early on. Nothing is immune to it, so you can use it against any enemy, and it gets stronger during thunderstorms, which are pretty common during the rainy months. Fire is OK too, but Skeletons and Ghosts it's effective against are usually fairly easy to defeat anyway. Blizzard is less useful at first because fewer monsters are weak to it, but you'll definitely want to learn it later in the game since it's the best against late-game monsters like Malboros, Hydras, and Red Dragons. ---ITEM SUPPLY--- Aside from re-outfitting yourself after any job changes, you may want to hold off on any equipment purchases. While you could now buy some of the equipment upgrades you might not have been able to afford after the Brigands' Den, there are even better items coming after the next battle. So, you're probably better off saving your money for those. Of course, if any of your equipment was stolen by the Thieves or broken by Milleuda in the last battle, be sure to replace it. You'll also want a good stock of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). After restocking your item supply, go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau for another battle against Milleuda. ---Battle 7: Lenalian Plateau--------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 4 others ENEMY FORCES: Milleuda (lv 8 Knight) Knight (lv 6, female) Knight (lv 5, female) Black Mage (lv 6, male) Black Mage (lv 5, male) Time Mage (lv 5, female) BOSS: Milleuda [Virgo] - lv 8 female Knight - Bravery 68, Faith 58 Equipment : Mythril Sword, Bronze Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Shoulder Cape Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Counter, random Squire support ability, Jump +1 VICTORY CONDITION: KO Milleuda 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 11 Grassland Tanglevine 50% Stone Outcropping Tremor 24% Lake Torrent 21% Soil Sinkhole 3% Obstructed -- 1% --STRATEGY-- 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. Firing from a high place increases the range of bows. 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. As in the last battle, Milleuda might 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 --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 7.5, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 6, Up: 6 (height: 2.5, Grassl.) Hi-Potion Iron Helm none Left: 4, Up: 8 (height: 5, Grassland) Potion Buckler none Left: 4, Up: 0 (height: 5.5, Grassl.) Eye Drops Bronze Armor none Left: 0, Up: 5 (height: 4, Grassland) Antidote Red Hood none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---EQUIPMENT UPGRADES--- After you win the battle at the Plateau, the shops will again update their shelves with new equipment. ---New Items for Purchase------------------------------------------------------- TYPE PRICE WHERE DETAILS Ringmail Clothes 900 TrCity/City HP +24 Silken Robe Robe 2400 TrCity/City HP +20, MP +16 Mage Masher Knife 1500 Castle/City Atk: 4, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Silence Mythril Sword Sword 1600 Castle Atk: 7, 8% Parry Battle Axe Axe 1500 Castle Atk: 9, 0% Parry Knightslayer Crossbw 1500 Castle Atk: 3, 5% Parry, Inflicts: Blind Silver Bow Bow 1500 Castle Atk: 5, 0% Parry Bronze Shield Shield 1200 Castle Phy.Evade: 16%, Mag.Evade: 0% Chainmail Armor 1300 Castle HP +40 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. Skip the axe. Although it looks powerful, the amount of damage it deals is randomly determined, and not exactly what you see previewed. That means it may fail to deliver a killing blow when you need it most! ---DRAGONS--- If you're crossing the Lenalian Plateau after the initial battle, you may sometimes encounter a Dragon monster in random battles (only when entering from Dorter). If you already have an Orator on your team, you can use Entice or Tame to recruit the Dragon onto your team. Although monsters aren't usually the most useful units, this is a much stronger monster than you can usually find at this point in the game. You can also breed it to get even stronger dragons: Blue Dragons and Red Dragons! ---RENDEZVOUS MODE--- At this point, you should be in great shape to win the Chocobo Defense mission in Rendezvous Mode, so if you'd like to check that out, you can earn some extra items and JP. Strategies for these missions are available in the Rendezvous Mode section. Otherwise, forge on from the Lenalian Plateau to Fovoham Windflats, where you'll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to Final Fantasy V). ---Battle 8: Windflat Mill------------------------------------------------------ YOUR FORCES: Ramza, Delita [guest], 3 others ENEMY FORCES: Wiegraf (lv 9 White Knight) Boco (lv 7 Chocobo) Monk (lv 7, female) Monk (lv 6, female) Knight (lv 6, female) BOSS: Wiegraf [Virgo] - lv 9 White Knight - Bravery 71, Faith 64 Equipment : Mythril Sword, Round Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Shoulder Cape Abilities : Holy Sword, random action ability, Counter, random Squire support ability, Jump +1 Immune : All negative status except Blind, Silence, Oil, Slow, Stop, Immobilize, and Disable ENEMY: Boco [Aries] - lv 7 Chocobo - Bravery 68, Faith 48 VICTORY CONDITION: Reduce Wiegraf to critical HP (< 20% of max HP) LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Clear day (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 10 x 8 Grassland Tanglevine 48% Soil Sinkhole 21% Obstructed -- 18% Brick Wind Slash 5% Roof Wind Blast 4% Stone Outcropping Tremor 3% Flagstone Contortion 3% --STRATEGY-- 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). 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. 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 magicks! 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 magick 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 magick is positioned so as not to harm your ally. But make sure that the magick will activate before the enemy can move. This battle isn't too difficult if you have good jobs. You need only Wiegraf's HP to critical status to win. (If your last hit manages to KO him outright, the outcome is the same.) BATTLE TROPHIES: Hi-Potion --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 6, Up: 9 (height: 4, Grassland) Hi-Potion Mage Masher none Left: 3, Up: 5 (height: 6, Grassland) Phoenix Down Hempen Robe none Left: 0, Up: 0 (height: 1, Grassland) Echo Herbs Leather Plate none Left: 5, Up: 1 (height: 1, Grassland) Potion Shoulder Cape none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Like Zeklaus Desert, Fovoham Windflats now becomes an entirely different map if you return to it for random battles. ---Extra Battlefield: Fovoham Windflats----------------------------------------- MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 14 x 9 Grassland Tanglevine 62% Stone Outcropping Tremor 24% Ocean Torrent 12% Obstructed -- 2% --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 10.5, Grassland POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 2 (height: 10, Grassland) Phoenix Down Silver Bow Sten Needle Left: 2, Up: 7 (height: 1, Stone Out.) Eye Drops Battle Axe Death Trap Left: 5, Up: 8 (height: 1, Stone Out.) Antidote Mythril Sword Hypnogas Left: 11, Up: 4 (height: 1, Grassland) Echo Herbs Knightslayer Degenerator -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. There, 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. ---Battle 9: Ziekden Fortress--------------------------------------------------- YOUR FORCES: 1st Squad - Ramza, Delita [guest], 1 other 2nd Squad - 2 others ENEMY FORCES: Argath (lv 10 Knight) Knight (lv 8, male) Knight (lv 8, male) Knight (lv 7, male) Black Mage (lv 9, female) Black Mage (lv 8, female) BOSS: Argath [Virgo] - lv 10 Knight - Bravery 32, Faith 67 Equipment : Knightslayer, Round Shield, Barbut, Chainmail, Power Gauntlet Abilities : Arts of War, random action ability, Auto-Potion, Equip Crossbows, Move +1 VICTORY CONDITION: KO Argath LOSS CONDITION: Ramza dies or all allies are KOed/Stone WEATHER: Day, light snow (no special effects) MAP SIZE: TERRAIN TYPES GEOMANCY MAP AREA 13 x 9 Snow Snowstorm 96% Bridge Wind Slash 3% Wooden Floor Will-o'-the-Wisp 2% --STRATEGY-- You'll deploy in two squads again for this battle. Deploy your best damage- dealer along with Ramza in the first squad. The characters 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 enemies. Argath only has a crossbow, so he can't do much damage to you and is useless at close ranges. Just chase him down and hit him with your strongest attacks, like Knight and Monk attacks and Black Magicks. You'll want to block Argath 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. If you position your characters between him and the stairs, 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. The dialogue between Argath, Ramza, and Delita here will be a little bit different depending on whether or not you chose to help Argath back on Mandalia Plain. BATTLE TROPHIES: None --TREASURE HUNTER ITEMS-- Put this corner at screen bottom: Height 1, Snow POOR ITEM GOOD ITEM TRAP Left: 0, Up: 0 (height: 1, Snow) Eye Drops Silken Robe none Left: 2, Up: 6 (height: 2, Snow) Hi-Potion Chainmail none Left: 5, Up: 4 (height: 0, Snow) Antidote Ringmail none Left: 9, Up: 5 (height: 7, Wooden Fl.) Potion Bronze Shield none -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- After you kill Argath, 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.
miércoles, 18 de mayo de 2016
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