============================================================================== Final Fantasy 3 Speed Walkthrough ============================================================================== If you have questions, comments, or tips (especially tips), please contact me: mondogecko33@hotmail.com This guide is copyright 2004-2005 Peter Tiernan. This may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as part of a public display is strictly prohibited, and violation of copyright. Final Fantasy III is copyright 1994 Square Co., Ltd. All trademarks herein are acknowledged as property of their respective copyright holders. ============================================================================== Contents ============================================================================== Miscellaneous General Tips Walkthrough Credits ============================================================================== Miscellaneous ============================================================================== This is a walkthrough for beating Final Fantasy 3 (AKA Final Fantasy 6) as quickly as possible. How fast you should expect to complete the game with this walkthrough depends on how much experience you have with the game, and how often you intend to reset when things don't go your way. My best time is 5:37. Console: I have FF3 for the Super Nintendo. In this walkthrough, I refer to Super Nintendo controller buttons. If there are differences between the SNES version and the PS version relevant to this walkthrough, I don't know anything about them. If anything works differently on emulation, I don't know anything about it. Version: 12/22/2004 -Original submission. 12/31/2004 -Addition of Joker Doom trick to General Tips. -Addition of Joker Doom trick to Walkthrough. -Addition of my times throughout the game. -Changes in Floating Continent section of Walkthrough. -Deletion of many Frequently Asked Questions that I felt were redundant or self-explanatory. -Other minor changes. 1/18/2005 -Addition of skipping the intro to Walkthrough. -Addition of avoiding the second and third battles to the Narshe section of the walkthrough. 1/27/2005 -Changes in Tunnel Armr section of Walkthrough. -Changes in 3 party battle section of Walkthrough. -Changes in Zozo section of Walkthrough. -Changes in Factory section of Walkthrough. 2/14/2005 -Very minor changes. -Corrected misinformation that Smoke Bomb does not work in Pincer Attack. -Corrected instructions to give Celes 2 Earrings before acquiring second Earring. 3/22/2005 -Eliminated "FAQ" and "Areas of Difficulty" sections. -Changes in Celes's and Setzer's late game functions. 4/26/2005 -Added Sniper Sight/Valiant Knife strategy for Cactrots. -Noted that Vanish isn't necessary to Doom Hoover. -Fixed various small errors. Detail: Feel free to ignore little details, like what items to skip and what weapons and armors to equip in what order. Those things make exactly as little difference as you would suspect. Levels: Whatever level you're on naturally should be fine. Usually, this is how it goes for me: Terra is on level 6 when Locke shows up. Sabin hits level 15 on the Mag Roaders. In the WOR before the dinosaur forest, I'm around level 18. I get to level 33 or so in the dinosaur forest. Exploitable Bugs: Evade doesn't do anything: M Evade counts for both physical and magic attacks- anything with the word "Force" in the name is good. Dark status doesn't do anything- don't bother healing it. Clear status ignores instant death protection- casting Vanish and then Doom on an enemy is often a good tactic. About the Times in This Walkthrough: The times listed in the walkthrough are recorded from a game I played a while back. The final time is 5:51, which is a bit slower than my best time. Cheap Tricks: I'm not above using Joker Doom and Vanish/Doom. They make the game faster. Succeeding Without Aforementioned Cheap Tricks: There's no reason you have to use them- they just speed the game up by about 30 minutes. If you consider these tricks cheating and don't want to use them, learn and exploit elemental weaknesses, mainly by using Rods as much as possible until you know level 3 magic. You also probably want to pick up Sabin (AFTER the dinosaur forest), Umaro (along with the Gauntlet in his cave), and Bum Rush: I don't think Mog can beat Goddess by himself without cheap tricks. I got Sabin and Umaro in my first couple speed runs, and I don't think it added muchy more than 5 minutes to my time. Although I've never done a speed run without using Vanish/Doom, I did my first several without Joker Doom, and it wasn't a problem. Without Vanish/Doom, AtmaWeapon and Dullahan could prove difficult. ============================================================================== General Tips ============================================================================== Money: Provided you don't buy extra stuff, you should always have enough. The only things I ever buy are the things I say to buy in the walkthrough. Tents in particular are expensive and usually unnecessary. Your HP and/or MP will be automatically restored in several places, and there are free heals in various places. You shouldn't need to use a single Tent in the WOB. In the WOR, Tent in the dinosaur forest whenever your MP runs out, Tent before and after Fanatic's Tower, Tent in Kefka's Tower after Poltergeist and after Doom. 8 Tents should be enough for the whole game. Saving: The only times I take even a single step out of my way to step on a save point are: Mount Kolts, the first save point on the Floating Island, and in Kefka's Tower before Inferno. Save at your discretion. I save after every battle in the dinosaur forest- I recommend doing this. Don't spend a lot of time in menu screens. Beating the game fast requires knowing what you're going to do ahead of time. Don't look at all the options and think about what you need to do. Also remember that you can cycle through your characters with the R and L buttons while equipping. Don't re-equip every time you get some new item. If somebody's naked, equip him optimum. Unless it's something you'll be wearing for the final battle, don't go out of your way to get equipment. After the Opera House you won't be using the "Fight" command, so don't bother with weapons apart from the Break Blade, rods, and ones that raise M Evade. The fastest way to get through dialogue in the combat screens and in the first scene with Terra, Vicks and Wedge on the cliff is by holding down the A button. Everywhere else, just keep hitting the A button. Runic: When you tell Celes to Runic, she will take a step forward and hold up her sword. Once she does this, she is "Runicked." While Runicked, she will absorb any spell anybody tries to cast. She becomes un-Runicked when a) she catches a spell, or b) you tell her do something else. In the battles where it makes sense to Runic (only Tunnel Armr and the Espers), tell her to Runic. After that, don't do a thing with her, not even tell her to Runic again, until you see the name of a spell appear at the top of the screen. Then tell her to Runic again. If she is still Runicked and her screen comes up, push X to make it go away. Slot: You can control what Slot Setzer gets by repeatedly pausing the game until the picture you want is just above the center. Then un-pause and immediately push A. Repeat three times. This alone will allow you to 7-Flush or Chocabop at will. Some attack animations (both yours and the enemy's) during combat affect whether you can get the other combinations. An Echo Screen sets you up to do any winning combination, including Joker Doom- 7-7-7- which wins the battle. This makes the game much easier, and I don't have much trouble getting it to work (although I did at first). If you are having trouble with it, this is a list of things that could be going wrong: 1) You didn't hit the button to stop the slot at the right time. (Basic, but it happens). 2) Another animation has altered the setup. The list of animations that will do this is pretty short considering the number of attacks in the game, so this doesn't happen often. 3) You didn't wait for the Echo Screen animation to finish. Just selecting Echo Screen isn't enough: the Echo Screen animation needs to have happened before you lock in the third slot. If Battle Mode is on Wait, which it should be before you start using Joker Doom, this means the Echo Screen animation needs to happen before you select Slot from the combat menu. 4) You paused during the Echo Screen animation and confused the game. I used to do this all the time, and I couldn't figure out what was going wrong. If you pause while the Echo Screen animation is happening, there's a chance it won't register right. 5) You are fighting an enemy that cannot be Joker Doomed: for the purpose of this walkthrough, Ultros, Chupon, and the final battle. I learned the Joker Doom trick from MasterZED's Slot page: http://masterzed.cavesofnarshe.com/GameDocs/slotfaq.html. It has all the technical information about Slot you could possibly need. ============================================================================== Walkthrough ============================================================================== Don't push any buttons when you turn the game on: the introduction will play through. Once the introduction starts playing, you can hit buttons again. (Use the A button to get through the dialogue as usual). Then pick New Game. It will not show the introduction, and the clock starts when Terra, Vicks, and Wedge enter Narshe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Narshe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First, go into Config. Set Battle Mode on active, set Battle Speed on 6, set Message Speed on 1, set Cursor on Memory. (Battle Speed does not affect you; it affects how quickly enemies attack you. Slower means you will have to heal less, and it also gives enemies less time to mess up the Echo Screen/Joker Doom combo). (The Memory cursor setting is annoying at first, but it doesn't take long to get used to). Put Terra in the back row. In the first battle, have Terra group Fire spell your own party, then single Fire spell Vicks and Wedge. Have Vicks and Wedge Fire Beam one of the guards and heal Terra before they die. Skip the next two battles by going around the square that triggers them: if you walk straight up, the trigger square will be one square before the two lines of grating cross. Cure spell after the pincer attack, and Cure spell if one of the Mammoths uses Blizzard on you. In the cave, if you're attacked by multiple rats, Fire spell the group. (If you're out of MP, run). If you're attacked by multiple anything else, Bio Beam. Any beam lone rats. Whelk: Tek Missile until he goes in his shell. When he says "Gruuuu," Tek Missile again, targeting the head. In Arvis's house, talk to Arvis until he moves up next to the door in the upper right. Then go out the door and across to the mines. Skip the treasures and the save point. Whenever you're attacked, Fire the group. Multi-party battle: Switch parties. Equip Mog empty. Switch parties twice. Send Locke's party down to just above the last island before Marshal. Stand in the middle. When a party turns in towards you, go out the other side, then back through the middle, and down to fight Marshal. You shouldn't have to fight anybody else. Marshal: Have Locke and the bottom moogle attack the dogs and have the two middle moogles attack Marshal. Then just hold down the A button. On the way to Figaro Castle, if you're attacked by a single Leafer or Dark Wind, have Locke fight it. If you're attacked by multiple Leafers and Dark Winds, Fire them. Stay next to the mountains until you're straight across from the castle. If you're attacked in the desert, run. Time: 0:17 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Figaro Castle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to Edgar and talk to him. Then go to the woman in the tower to the left who tells you about Sabin and talk to her. Then go back to Edgar and talk to him. When Kefka comes, have Edgar talk to both soldiers and then Kefka, then go back and talk to Locke. As soon as you have control of Terra, have her move down and into the door to the right. You should be able to get through the door ahead of Locke. From there, just follow Locke to the tower and talk to him. When you have control of Edgar, don't talk to Kefka: just go straight up and talk to the guard in the door. Armors: Auto Crossbow twice and they'll die. Don't use Fire or else you will see a long dialogue. Have Locke steal if you want- you won't get anything useful, but he has nothing else to do. Take the Chocabo to the cave to South Figaro in the southeast. Equip Edgar optimum, then equip Locke optimum. Put Locke and Edgar in the back row. In the cave, don't get any chests. Auto Crossbow everything. Don't cast Fire or you will see a long dialogue. Go to South Figaro. If you're attacked, Auto Crossbow. Time: 0:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ South Figaro ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go straight to the relic shop. Talk to the shopkeeper over the right side of the counter to avoid talking to the merchant. Buy three Sprint Shoes. Give Terra Sprint Shoes. Go into the big house at the top, go through the secret passage, and get the Hyper Wrist and Running Shoes. Give Edgar Running Shoes/ Hyper Wrist. Go to Mount Kolts in the northeast. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mount Kolts ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Use Terra's Cure spell to keep HP up: if somebody dies you won't be able to bring him back to life, so make sure nobody does. Before you have the Atlas Armet, have Edgar crossbow, then have Locke and Terra fight. In the second underground room, go through the wall to the right and get the Atlas Armet. Give Edgar Atlas Armet in place of Running Shoes. Edgar should be able to take out anything but the mammoth things with a shot from the Auto Crossbow. Have Terra Fire the mammoth things and have Edgar crossbow everything. At the save point, have Terra cure Locke and Edgar full, then Sleeping Bag Terra. Time: 0:32 Before you fight Vargas, Cure and put Locke in the front row. Vargas: Auto Crossbow/group Fire/fight the bears to death. Make sure Locke attacks whichever bear has taken less damage. Auto Crossbow/Fire/fight Vargas until Sabin shows up. Pummel Vargas immediately. You shouldn't have to heal. Give Sabin Running Shoes/Sprint Shoes, Cure spell if you have the MP, put Sabin in the back row. You should be equipped as follows: Terra- Sprint Shoes Locke- (no relics) Edgar- Atlas Armet/Hyper Wrist Sabin- Sprint Shoes/Running Shoes If you're attacked on the way to the hideout, Auto Crossbow, then Aura Bolt. Time: 0:39 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Returner Hideout ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talk to Banon. When you have control of Terra get all the items except the antidote in the upper left pot and the Green Cherry in the pot above Sabin. Make sure you get the White Cape through the wall in the room with the Air Lancet. Talk to Locke, Sabin, and Edgar. Go outside. Say "No" to Banon three times. On the river, Crossbow/group Fire anything that's not a Pteredon. Crossbow/ single Fire/Aura Bolt Pteredons. Health when HP gets low. At the first fork go straight. At the second fork go left. Time: 0:45 Ultros: Aura Bolt/Fire/Auto Crossbow. Have Banon Health when you need it and fight when you don't. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Banon Scenario ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Walk to Narshe, fighting lone enemies and Crossbowing groups. Time: 0:49 Go through the secret door Locke showed you. Auto Crossbow should kill anything in one hit. Don't get any chests, just go straight to Arvis's house. Strip Edgar of relics and Terra of equipment before you go through the door inside Arvis's house. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sabin Scenario ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Get Shadow. Give Shadow Genji Glove/Atlas Armet and let him equip himself optimum. This is a good time to save- if Shadow tries to leave with your stuff, you want to be able to reset. Go right and then down between the mountains and the water to the imperial camp. If you're attacked by more than two enemies, run. Fight/Aura Bolt small groups. Time: 0:54 When you have control of Cyan give him Sprint Shoes/Hyper Wrist and go straight to the Commander. You should be equipped as follows: Sabin- Sprint Shoes/Running Shoes Shadow- Genji Glove/Atlas Armet Cyan- Sprint Shoes/Hyper Wrist Commander: Use Retort and wait for Commander to hit you. Don't get any of the chests in the base. Just chase Kefka, hold down the A button when he tries to fight you, and Aura Bolt/fight the Templar/Soldier party. When you have control of Cyan, run straight to the king and then straight to the room with Elayne and Owain. When you have control of Sabin, talk to Cyan to join in each fight. Aura Bolt with Sabin, fight with Shadow. In the armors, go back to the entrance of the camp. Fire Beam everything. Time: 1:06 Outside, put Cyan in the back row. Go straight to the Phantom Forest. Fight/ Aura Bolt/Dispatch all enemies. In the Phantom Forest, go right in every screen: if you can go up, go up. If you can't go up, go down. Aura bolt/Dispatch/fight. On the Ghost Train, Aura Bolt/Dispatch/fight everything. You shouldn't need to save or Tent at all. First car: Walk back to the door and push A; leave the car to the left. Third car: Go two steps in, then fight the Ghost in the door. Fourth car: Push the lever. Go back in and push the lever again. Exit to the left. Fifth car: Go in through the left entrance and get the Earring. Seventh Car: Go in through the right entrance, go through the second door, and get the Fenix Down in the second chest and the Sniper Sight in the third chest. Engine: Push the switches on the left and right, then go out to the smokestack and push A. Avoid going into the other cars when possible. Don't bother to heal before fighting the train. Ghost Train: Fenix Down it. Hope the Train doesn't use Evil Toot to muddle the character using the Fenix Down. Just wait for the platform scene to fade. Time: 1:16 Go to the falls, strip Shadow, if you have Black Belt give it to Cyan in place of Sprint Shoes. Don't bother healing: the game does it for you. Jump. Fight until Rizopas shows up, then Aura Bolt/Dispatch. On the Veldt, run if you can until you get to Molbiz. In Molbiz, buy Dried Meat. Sleep in the relic shop if you need to. Leave town and head south. Aura Bolt/Dispatch in all the battles until Gau shows up. Hopefully you'll get Gau on the way to the cave. (Dried Meat him when he shows up). If you don't have him when you get to the cave, just walk back and forth in front of the entrance. You might want to save here: a poorly-timed Aqua Rake or a pincer attack involving Giga Volt could kill you. Time: 1:24 In the cave, go up, across the bridge, and straight down for the helmet. In the trench, run from Aspiks, Aura Bolt/Dispatch/Rage M-Tec Armor everything else. Dispatch or Tek Laser might not kill an Aguiform, so against parties with Aguiforms, have Sabin Aura Bolt before you give Gau and Cyan their commands. Go left at the forks. In Nikeah, buy 21 Smoke Bombs, remove Running Shoes from Sabin (and the Sprint Shoes too if Cyan is still wearing his), go to the ship captain. Hop aboard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Locke Scenario ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Time: 1:29 Choose the Locke scenario. Give Locke Sprint Shoes/Running Shoes, equip Locke optimum. Go to the items shop and talk to the merchant. Steal. Go through cider guy's house, across the water behind the roof, and into the cafe. Go across through the soldiers and down the stairs to where the other merchant is. Talk to him. Fight. Take the Cider back to the cider guy, tell the kid courage, and go through the secret passage. Get the Fenix Down in the barrel and the Elixir in the clock on your way to Celes. Change clothes. Talk to Celes. Take the key from the guard. Get all the chests except the empty one (bottom right) in the clock room. Wind the clock in the upper right. Skip all the chests except the Earrings (bottom left). Smoke Bomb all encounters. Leave South Figaro and go to the cave in the west. If you intend to try Tunnel Armr without using Runic, save. Smoke Bomb all encounters, don't get any chests. Heal at the spring. Several steps before the exit, give Celes 2 Earrings, give Locke Atlas Armet/Genji Glove, let him equip himself optimum, equip Celes optimum. Tunnel Armr: Safe strategy: have Locke fight and Celes runic. (See "Runic" under "General Tips" if you don't know how to Runic effectively). Slightly risky strategy: have Locke fight and Celes use Ice. More often than not, you'll be fine. Either way, it's a quick fight that doesn't involve healing. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Narshe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Time: 1:41 In the multi-party battle, make the first party Edgar, Sabin, Cyan, Celes. Put Locke in one of the other parties, and someone else in the third. Immediately move Edgar's party down and a little to the right, as far as you can get without running into soldiers. There is a gap you can stand in where none of the green soldiers will attack you. Switch to Locke's party and remove Locke's Atlas Armet. Switch back to Edgar's party. Give Celes Sprint Shoes/nothing, give Cyan Atlas Armet in place of Black Belt, give Sabin 2 Earrings, equip Edgar optimum. As soon as the green soldiers are past, hide the Edgar party in the dead-end passage in the lower left until the brown soldiers go by. Stand in front of Rider, wait until he goes by to the right, and go down and fight Kefka. You shouldn't have to fight anybody besides Kefka. You should be equipped as follows: Edgar- (no relics) Celes- Sprint Shoes Sabin- 2 Earrings Cyan- Atlas Armet/Hyper Wrist Kefka: Auto Crossbow/Dispatch/Aura Bolt/Ice. You shouldn't have to heal. When you regroup in Narshe, form a party of Edgar/Celes/Cyan/Sabin with Edgar in the lead. Get the Elixir in Arvis's clock. Clear out the treasure house below Arvis's house. On the way to Figaro Castle, fight lone Leafers or Dark Winds, Auto Crossbow anything else. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Figaro Castle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Buy a Flash and a Drill, get the Soft behind the items guy, buy 4 Tents and 11 Fenix Downs. Go to the basement and have the engineer take you across the mountains. Give Sabin Sprint Shoes/nothing, give Edgar two Earrings. Go to the little hut on the peninsula to the north. On the way there, Flash will take out Mind Candies, Red Fangs, and Iron Fists by itself. Aura Bolt/Drill/Dispatch parties that don't have these monsters. Get the Hero Ring in the pot. Go to the Chocobo stable in the forest next to the hut. Ride a Chocabo to Zozo. Before going into Zozo, give Edgar Hero Ring in place of an Earring, give Celes 2 Earrings. You should be equipped as follows: Edgar- Hero Ring/Earring Sabin- Sprint Shoes/any Cyan- Atlas Armet/Hyper Wrist Celes- 2 Earrings Time: 1:52 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Zozo ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Keep HP up with Celes's Cure spell. Tincture her when her MP runs out. Smoke Bomb Hades Gigas, Aura Bolt/Drill/Dispatch lone enemies, Flash/group Ice everything else. Go to the relic shop in the bottom left and go up, jumping between buildings whenever you have the opportunity. Don't get any of the items on the way. Before fighting Dadaluma, heal, give Edgar Hyper Wrist in place of Earring, give Celes Sprint Shoes in place of Earring, give Sabin 2 Earrings. Dadaluma: Dispatch/Aura Bolt/Drill/Ice. Ignore his backup. You shouldn't have to heal. Get the chests in Terra's room, talk to Terra, get the Magicite, remove Cyan's relics, talk to Locke in the doorway. When prompted to make a party, put in Edgar and Sabin. Remove Celes's Earring, give Edgar Earring in place of Hyper Wrist, give Locke Sprint Shoes, equip Locke optimum, give Locke Kirin, give Edgar Siren, give Sabin Ramuh, give Celes Stray. You should be equipped as follows: Edgar- Siren- Earring/Hero Ring Sabin- Ramuh- 2 Earrings Locke- Kirin- Genji Glove/Sprint Shoes Celes- Stray- any/any Time: 2:05 Flash Iron Fists, Mind Candies, and Red Fangs, Drill/Aura Bolt/Fight the Vultures. Go to Jidoor, go to the item shop, buy 31 Echo Screens. (See the "Joker Doom" section if you don't know why). Go to the big house at the top, talk to Impresario, read the letter, go south to the Opera House. Have Celes Cure spell everyone to full HP before you go in. Time: 2:08 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Opera House ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Have Locke go straight to Celes's room. Have Celes go straight to the stage. The lines are "Oh my hero;" "I'm the darkness;" "Must I." Have Locke get the note, talk to Impessario, and then go to the right and up. Push the switch on the far right. Go back around to the left and over the stage. Try to dodge the rats, but don't worry too much about it. If you get attacked and there is only one red rat, Flash the group and immediately have Sabin Aura Bolt. If there are two red rats, Flash the group, have Sabin Aura Bolt and Locke fight, and wait until more gray rats come. When they do, Flash again. I always run into almost every rat, and that used to annoy me. However, several times I've had Sabin learn Fire Dance from the last battle before Number 128, so I've become appreciative of the experience the rats give. Before you fight Ultros, give Edgar Hyper Wrist in place of Earring. Ultros: Aura Bolt/Drill/fight. You shouldn't have to heal. When the Airship lands, go northwest to Vector. Smoke Bomb everything. Time: 2:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Vector ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go into the skinny building, don't pledge allegiance, kill the guards, and talk to the lady again for a free heal. Go to the armor shop to the left, buy 2 Bard's Hats. Give Sabin Atlas Armet/Hyper Wrist, give Celes 2 Earrings, give Locke Peace Ring in place of Genji Glove and let him equip himself optimum, equip Celes optimum, put Locke in the back row. Go to the right and talk to the guy behind the crate. Jump up on the crate and go into the factory. In the factory, get Thunder Blade and Remedy (second and third chests you pass close to). First go down and through the portal that leads to the ladder, then just follow the conveyor belts to Kefka. Flash Pipsqueaks and multiple Flans, on single Flans (which increase in numbers when you kill them), Pummel, then Flash, then call Ramuh. Ramuh DOES NOT retarget, so make sure you don't choose Ramuh until the Flans he will hit are on the screen. Ramuh/Flash all other encounters. Before fighting the Espers, remove Sabin's Esper, give Celes Ramuh, and Cure. Talk to the Esper on the left. Espers: Have Locke summon Kirin his first turn and then Cure when necessary, have Celes Runic (see "Runic" under "Miscellaneous" if you aren't familiar with the command), have Edgar Drill, have Sabin Pummel. If you're feeling risky, Celes can Ice Ifrit every now and then, but you do run the risk of being killed if you don't have Runic guard. Talk to the Esper on the left and then the one on the right. Pick up the magicite that's blocking the door, but don't bother with the other one. Flash/Ramuh any party that has at least two non-Rhinox monsters. Aura Bolt/ Drill Rhinoxes. Make sure you get the Break Blade inside the wall of the bottom left platform in the room right before Number 024. Before fighting Number 024, remove everybody's weapons. Number 024: Have Sabin Suplex, have Edgar Drill, have Locke try to Steal, have Celes start by summoning Ramuh, then use Ice once unless somebody is muddled or almost dead, then Cure and punch anybody who gets muddled. After Celes leaves, go down on the elevator, make sure everybody's healthy, give Edgar Shoat, give Locke Phantom, give Sabin 2 Earrings, put Sabin in the lead. You should be equipped as follows: Sabin- (no Esper)- 2 Earrings Edgar- Shoat- Hero Ring/Hyper Wrist Locke- Phantom- Sprint Shoes/Peace Ring Time: 2:44 Talk to Cid. Fire Dance will take out any number of Mag Roaders, Flash will take out any number of red Mag Roaders, Aura Bolt and Drill will take out single Mag Roaders. It helps a lot to know Fire Dance when you fight Number 128. During combat, when it won't slow the battle down (generally while the animation for the attack that finishes off the opposing party is on the screen), put Echo Screen in the top space in your item inventory. Number 128: Have Edgar Drill the middle section, have Sabin Fire Dance, have Locke group Cure every turn. If you don't know Fire Dance, Aura Bolt: it averages out to about as much damage to the middle section as Bolt, and it's nice to have the blades go away for a little while. Don't bother to heal before the battle against the Cranes: you get your HP and MP filled for you anyway. Set Battle Mode to Wait. Cranes: Have somebody other than Setzer use an Echo Screen, then have Setzer Joker Doom. (See the Joker Doom section under "General Tips" for more detail). Maduin Scene: 1) Go to the gate. 2) Talk to Madonna. 3) Go to the gate. 4) Talk to the Elder, then the Esper in the door, then go to the gate. Make a party of Terra/Edgar/Setzer/Sabin with Setzer in the top right spot, unequip those not now in your party. Put Setzer in the back row, give Setzer Phantom, give Setzer Running Shoes, give Terra Sprint Shoes/Running Shoes, equip Terra optimum. Fly to Narshe. Take a few steps in, and you will be taken to the Elder's house. Take the Elixir from the Elder's clock. Fly to the sealed cave in the southeast corner of the map. Go in through the imperial camp. Time: 2:59 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sealed Cave ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Before the banquet, Setzer needs to have at least 55 magic points towards Vanish and Edgar needs to have at least 70 magic points towards Doom. This means you want to pick up 19 magic points in the Sealed Cave. Therefore, don't run and don't be afraid to go a little out of your way to get chests. However, I wouldn't suggest getting the chest in the first room because it is useless and sells for 1 GP, and the enemies in the first room all give 1 magic point. I usually get X-Potion, Elixir, Tempest, and the three buried treasures near the bottom of the staircase. Aura Bolt/Drill single Zombones, Echo Screen/Joker Doom everything else. (FYI, single Zombones and any party with Ings give 2 magic points, everything else (including, strangely, two Zombones) give 1). To get through the cave, start by going down and then go right. Don't push any switches unless you can see a dead end and there aren't any more switches between you and that dead end. When you enter combat with Kefka, just fight. If you've been keeping track of how many magic points you've picked up, get up to 17 before go out through the extra door that has appeared in the last room. Buy 41 Smoke Bombs on your way out of the Airship. Get Edgar up to 70 magic points towards Doom and Setzer up to 55 towards Vanish, then take a Chocabo to Vector. (If you have nowhere close to enough magic points, just walk to Vector). (FYI, there are a couple of random battle formations that will give 2 magic points here, the best of which is a bunch of Chicken Lips, because they can be taken out with one double-Earring boosted Fire Dance. A group of Chicken Lip, Ralph, Joker, Wyvern will give 3 magic points). Time: 3:11 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Imperial Banquet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Talk to all 24 soldiers, Drill/Aura Bolt the ones that want to fight, and get all the chests. My method is to go around to the left first, up over the top, back down on the right side, and then out front. The only red guard you need to talk to is the one in the library. Don't go into the last door as you're going back down the right side. Equip everyone but Terra empty, give Terra Gale Hairpin/Sprint Shoes, equip Terra optimum, give Terra Break Blade. You should have plenty of time to do all of this before the timer expires. (I generally have about a minute left after I talk to the last soldier). Ironically, this is the only part of the game when you are NOT pressed for time, since you have to wait for the timer to expire anyway. At the dinner: toast hometowns, leave Kefka in jail, Celes is one of us, ask all 3 questions once each, tell him which one you asked first, the poison was inexcusable, the war's over, the Espers went too far, take a break and go to the right around the table and talk to the first red guard you come to, agree to fight them, Fire Dance/Flash/Slot them, go back to your seat, say yes when Ghestal asks to borrow Terra. You'll know you did everything right if you get a Charm Bangle from the guard when you're leaving. Time: 3:21 Give Locke Phantom, give Locke Charm Bangle/Sprint Shoes, equip Locke optimum, give Locke Thief Knife, organize your items, put Locke in the lead. Go to Albrook. Smoke Bomb all encounters. You should be equipped as follows: Locke- Phantom- Charm Bangle/Sprint Shoes- Thief Knife/any/Bard's Hat/any Terra- (no Esper)- Sprint Shoes/Gale Hairpin- Break Blade/any/Bard's Hat/any Go southeast to Albrook. Talk to General Leo at the dock, then go to the inn. After the Locke/Celes scene, go talk to Leo again. The first time you have control of Terra on the boat, talk to Leo. The second time, talk to Leo, then Locke. Go to Thamasa, Smoke Bombing all encounters. Time: 3:28 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thamasa ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to the weapons shop. You will still need the weapons and armors you have equipped, which should include 1 Break Blade, 1 Thief Knife, and 2 Bard's Hats. Guardian, Drainer, and Thief Knife only fetch 1 GP. You will still need 1 Drill. You will still need 3 Sprint Shoes, 1 Charm Bangle, 1 Back Guard, 1 Gale Hairpin, 1 Hyper Wrist, 1 Hero Ring, 3 Earrings, 2 Running Shoes, 1 Tintinabar, 1 Sniper Sight. Genji Glove only fetches 1 GP. Sell all weapons, armors, relics, and tools not listed above. Buy 5 Ice Rods and as many as 13 Thunder Rods. It's fine to spend all of your money, but 13 Thunder Rods is plenty, and if you have some money left over you won't need to sell anything later. Go to Strago's house and talk to Strago. Go to the inn and sleep. In the burning house, give Strago Running Shoes/Back Guard. Whenever you have a choice between two doors, pick the one on the right. Try to dodge the flames. If you're attacked, Aqua Rake or Smoke Bomb. While Aqua Rake or Smoke Bomb animation is on the screen, arrange the top spots of your inventory to be Smoke Bombs, Echo Screens, Thunder Rods, and Ice Rods, in that order. Get both chests- a Flame Rod and an Ice Rod. Give Terra 2 Earrings, give Strago Earring/Hero Ring (or vice versa). Flame Eater: Have Strago and Terra single target Ice Rod him once each and he will die. Time: 3:41 Go to the cave in the west, Smoke Bombing everything. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Esper Cave ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go right whenever you can. Often it won't look like you can go right , but you can squeeze in next to the wall. Smoke Bomb everything. Skip the chests. When Relm jumps out, you should be able to get through the door ahead of her. Ultros: Have Strago single target Thunder Rod once, have Terra morph and single target Thunder Rod once. When Relm shows up, sketch until she doesn't miss. If you spent almost all of your money, have Locke try to steal a White Cape. Continue through the cave, fall in the closest hole in the ground and go up and right across the bridge to the Espers. When you control General Leo, go straight to Kefka and use Shock until he dies. Time: 3:56 Get in the Airship, make a party of Edgar/Setzer/Celes. Have the guy unequip those not now in your party. Give Edgar Shoat, give Setzer Phantom, equip everybody optimum, give Celes Running Shoes/Sprint Shoes, give Edgar Back Guard/Gale Hairpin, give Setzer Running Shoes/Earring. Find the Floating Continent, making the same party with Celes in the top left spot, Setzer in the bottom right, and Edgar in the top right. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ IAF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Echo Screen/Joker Doom. Have Celes Cure between battles to keep HP up. Absolute Zero in particular hurts quite a bit, but if you equipped, you make your commands quickly, Battle Mode is on Wait, and you start each battle with full HP, you should be able to make it by them. Edgar ought to learn Doom and Setzer ought to learn Vanish shortly before Ultros shows up. When this happens give Setzer Carbunkl, give Edgar Unicorn, give Celes Shoat. Ultros: Vanish him, then cast Doom on him. IAF: You should be able to Echo Screen/Joker Doom him. I believe he has an attack that can mess this up: if it fails, just Thunder Rod his middle section until he dies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Floating Continent ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Time: 4:04 As soon as you get to the Floating Continent, give Celes Charm Bangle in place of Running Shoes, give Setzer Earring in place of Running Shoes. Cure, save. Don't get Shadow. Push every switch you come to, and to go in the bottom left transporter when you come to a place where there are three transporters right next to each other. If you don't know how to navigate the Floating Continent, my best advice is to save at the beginning and just reset every time you get lost. If you do everything right, the Floating Continent isn't particularly long. Smoke Bomb everything except Ninjas. One Thunder Rod from Setzer will kill a party of Ninjas. If it's a preemptive attack, you should have time to Joker Doom them. There are two reasons I can think of to Joker Doom rather than Rod: 1) They are accompanied by a Wirey Dragon (which Thunder Rod won't kill); 2) You have less than eight Thunder Rods left. Two Skeans will wipe out your party. Don't get any chests, don't go to the second save point, keep HP up, and just go straight to Atma. AtmaWeapon: Vanish/Doom. Don't worry about the chest. Have Setzer single target Thunder Rod Naughties. Nerapa: Have Setzer single target Thunder Rod once. Don't wait, just jump. You should have about 4 minutes left on the timer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Solitary Island ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Give Celes Shoat, give Celes Charm Bangle/Sprint Shoes, equip Celes optimum. Feeding Cid should be faster than letting him die: every time you go to the beach, pick up all of the fast fish, as well as all the medium fish you can get to quickly. Don't touch the slow ones. Get on the raft. Time: 4:25 Don't even go into the town where Sabin is. Smoke Bomb all encounters. Go north to the forest near the Phoenix Cave and get a Chocabo. Ride it to Nikeah. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nikeah ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to the merchant in the upper left. Sell stuff (Thunder Rods and Czarina Ring get good money) until you have 20000 GP. Sell 1 GP items (Magicite, Guardian, Genji Glove, Memento Ring, Thief Knife (keep one Thief Knife), X-Ether, X-Potion) until the units digit of your GP total is not a factor of Edgar's or Setzer's level. They should be between Celes's level and two levels higher- for me they're always between 16 and 18. You have some margin for error, and if you're worried, just make the units digit 0. (You're doing this because Dullahan, in Daryl's Tomb, immediately uses Level ? Pearl on you. Level ? Pearl Pearls (and, considering the level you're on, kills) any character whose level is divisible by the last digit in your current GP. If it kills Edgar or Setzer, you will need to bring him back to life before you can Vanish/Doom Dullahan. While you're doing this, Dullahan will start doing other annoying stuff. Neither your level nor the units digit in your GP total will change between here and Daryl's Tomb, so you have the opportunity to ensure that the battle against Dullahan will be quick and easy). Buy 2 Enhancers. Go to the cafe and talk to the bandits. Talk to Edgar until you sneak aboard the boat- he starts right above the cafe. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ South Figaro ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go into the inn by way of the cafe and talk to Edgar again. Leave town. Go to the cave to the west, Smoke Bombing all encounters. Time: 4:30 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Cave to Figaro Castle ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Smoke Bomb everything, but if you get Muddled, run: the Smoke Bomb might have no effect. Don't get any chests in the cave. In the castle, in the room with three doors, get the Gravity Rod and the Crystal Helm that are right below where you enter. Skip the other chests. Go through the middle door, and before you talk to Edgar, give Celes Earring/Running Shoes, put her in the bottom space, and equip her optimum. (Running Shoes are very important: they not only increase speed, but they also protect against the Tentacles' primary method of attack). Talk to Edgar. Tentacles: First have Edgar Gravity Rod the bottom left Tentacle. After that, if Edgar gets a chance to do anything, have him Cure Celes. Group Fire Rod the Tentacles once with Celes. The bottom left one will die. Group Ice Rod the Tentacles four times with Celes. The rest will die. Give Celes Sprint Shoes/Charm Bangle, give Edgar Running Shoes/Gale Hairpin, put Celes in the lead and Edgar in the second space. Fenix Down Edgar if he's dead, Cure up to full health. Go to the engineer, Smoke Bombing all encounters. Have the engineer take you across the mountains. Go to Kohlingen, Smoke Bombing all encounters. Talk to Setzer in the inn. Give Setzer Running Shoes/Back Guard, give Setzer Carbunkl, give Edgar Bismarck, equip Setzer optimum. Go to Darryl's Tomb, Smoke Bombing all encounters. Time: 4:38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Darryl's Tomb ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Smoke Bomb all encounters. I'll call the room with six doors the entry room. When you get there, go through the top right door first. Push A at the tombstone, go through the door, hit the switch. Go back to the entry room. Go to the bottom right door. Get the chest. Go back to the entry room. Go to the bottom left door. Skip the Czarina Gown at the bottom of the stairs, but get the other chests. The Experience Egg is through the wall to the right. Push the switch. Go back to the entry room. Go through the bottom middle door, push the switch, go across on the turtle. Skip the save point and the chest above it with the monster in it. Get the Man Eater. Go up to the tombstone and push A. Dullahan: Vanish/doom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ With the Airship ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bahamut would be nice if you were to get him before the dinosaur forest, but he isn't necessary. If you're attacked by Doomgaze, Vanish/Doom him. I write assuming you don't get Bahamut because I never do. If you do, though, then teach Edgar Flare in the dinosaur forest, and then when you fight Kefka, have him Flare rather than Drill. As soon as you have the Airship, go to the Coliseum in the northwest. Equip Edgar optimum, give Edgar Break Blade, equip Setzer optimum. Save. Time: 4:45 Go in, bet Tintinabar, choose Edgar. Wait for Edgar to attack and Break Dark Force, cast Break on Dark Force, or cast Doom on Dark Force. If you lose (odds are good that you will), reset. Fly to the dinosaur forest north of the Veldt. Equip Edgar optimum, give Edgar Experience Egg in place of Gale Hairpin, give Setzer Experience Egg in place of Back Guard, give Celes Back Guard/Gale Hairpin, give Celes Maduin, give Setzer Stray. You should be equipped as follows: Celes- Maduin- Back Guard/Gale Hairpin Edgar- Bismarck- Experience Egg/Running Shoes Setzer- Stray- Experience Egg/Running Shoes Time: 4:46 Since your goal in each fight is to get off two moves before dying, Back Guard, Gale Hairpin, and Running Shoes are your most helpful relics. Generally, I almost always beat single Tyrannosaurs, but I'm about 50-50 in Pincer Attacks and against Brachosaurs. Fight Tyrannosaurs and Brachosaurs, Vanish/Dooming them, until you run out of MP. Tent. Repeat. Save alot- I save after every battle. If you're pincer attacked, try to get off a Joker Doom. To ensure that everyone gains levels at the same rate, twice you will have to switch which character does not have an Experience Egg. You want to get everybody to about level 33, which should take about eighteen battles. If nobody dies and everybody starts with the same experience, you want to switch around equipment after the sixth and twelfth battles. You do not want Celes and Setzer to both be on level 35 in Kefka's Tower, so try not to get them higher than level 33. MAKE SURE YOU GIVE CARBUNKL BACK TO SETZER AND SHOAT BACK TO CELES TOWARDS THE END OF THE FOREST LONG ENOUGH FOR CELES TO LEARN DOOM AND SETZER TO LEARN WARP. When all of your characters are around level 33, Setzer knows Warp and Celes knows Doom, fly to Narshe. Make Edgar the leader and equip your party as follows: Edgar- Charm Bangle/Sprint Shoes Celes- Running Shoes/Gale Hairpin Setzer- Running Shoes/Back Guard (Celes's and Setzer's setups are interchangeable). Time: 4:56 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Narshe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to the moogle village via Locke's secret entrance. Smoke Bomb or Warp all encounters. Talk to Mog. Push A at the wall behind him for the Moogle Charm. Give Mog Moogle Charm/Sprint Shoes, remove Celes's Esper, give Mog Shoat, put Mog in the back row. Warp. Time: 4:59 Fly to Phoenix Cave. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phoenix Cave ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Make party one Mog and party two everybody else with Edgar as the leader. Mog should be the one to stand on the first switch. (The party that stands on the first switch takes more steps in the cave. Since Mog has the Moogle Charm, you want this to be him). Skip the chests, Echo Screen/Joker Doom parties with Phases in them, Smoke Bomb or Warp everything else, don't fight the dragon, send Mog to get Locke. Make a party of Locke, Mog, Setzer, Celes. Fly to Narshe. Time: 5:06 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Narshe ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Go to the weapons shop. Sleep in the bed unless your MP are full. Get the Esper Ragnarok. Give Celes Ragnarok, give Locke Phoenix, equip Locke optimum, equip Mog optimum. Go back through the caves to Tritoch, dodging the dragon. Tritoch: Vanish/Doom. Give Setzer Tritoch. Go back to the dragon. Dragon: Vanish/Doom. If he freezes one of the pieces of this combo, you can try to Echo Screen/Joker Doom him. Warp. Fly to the desert near Maranda. Remove the Moogle Charm from Mog, give Locke Sniper Sight. 
Time: 5:10

Walk around the desert.  Have Locke fight Cactrots.  (Chocobop is your only
other attack that can kill them).  If you choose, you can save after every
battle, and reset the game whenever you're attacked by a Hoover.  Hoovers can
be Doomed, but it will only hit 2/3 of the time.  You can Vanish them first to
avoid missing.  Once Mog learns Doom, though, it's not worth your time to use
Vanish.  Cure spell when your HP get low.  When Mog knows Doom, give him
Phantom.  Fight until Setzer knows the 3 spells, Locke knows Life3, and Celes
knows Ultima.  (Setzer should come last).  When Locke knows Life3 and Mog
knows Vanish, give Locke Phantom.

Give Mog Moogle Charm.  Tent.  Fly to Fanatics' Tower.

Time: 5:17

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fanatics' Tower
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Skip the first and third doors.  Get the Genji Shield and the Force Armor in
the second and fourth doors and the Gem Box in the room at the top.  Give
Celes Gem Box/Earrings, give Setzer 2 Earrings, give Locke Back Guard/Gale
Hairpin, give Setzer Man Eater/Force Shield/Force Armor/Bard's Hat, give Locke
Thief Knife.

You should be equipped as follows:
Celes- (any Esper)- Gem Box/Earring- Enhancer/any/Crystal/any
Setzer- (any Esper)- 2 Earrings- Man Eater/Force/Bard's Hat/Force
Locke- Phantom- Back Guard/Gale Hairpin- Thief/Flame/Bard's Hat/any
Mog- (any Esper)- Sprint Shoes/Moogle Charm- any/any/any/any

Magi Master:
Have somebody (ideally Mog) Berserk the Magi Master before you do anything
else to him.  Have Locke Life3 himself.  Have Mog Bio, have Locke Fire3, have
Celes Ultima, have Setzer Bolt3.  You shouldn't have to heal.

Leave the tower.

Time: 5:22

Save, give Locke Unicorn, Tent, fly to Kefka's Tower.

Mog should know Vanish/Doom, Locke should know Vanish/Fire3/good heal magic,
Edgar should know Doom, and Celes and Setzer should have good attack magic.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kefka's Tower
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Make party one Edgar/Locke with Edgar (who should still have Charm Bangle/
Sprint Shoes) in the lead, party two Mog, party three Celes/Setzer with Celes
in the lead.  (Mog is party two rather than party one because party two takes
more steps, and Mog has Moogle Charm).  (If Celes and Setzer are both on
levels divisible by 5 and Edgar is not, switch Edgar and Celes).

While in the tower:
Edgar and Locke should Vanish/Doom Gt Behemoths.  I've never had them run into
a Land Worm, but if they do, Drill/Fire3.  Smoke Bomb everything else
(including Gt Behemoth's buddies after Gt Behemoth is gone).  If one of them
gets Imped and you have less than 2 Green Cherries, between battles, equip
White Cape, go back to the main menu, and then re-equip the previous relic.
Celes and Setzer should Echo Screen/Joker Doom Land Worms and Gt Behemoths,
and Warp or Smoke Bomb everything else.
Do not fight dragons or Atma.
Do not get any chests I don't specifically say to get.

Remove Charm Bangle from Edgar.  Switch parties.

Have Mog get the Minerva (first chest he comes to).  In the room with conveyor
belts, two chests, and three doors (including the one you came in through),
get both the chests (force stuff), go in the middle door first and step on the
button to move the platform.  Then go back out and into the door on the right.
Go stand on the button by the big door.  Switch parties.

Give Celes Charm Bangle/Sprint Shoes, equip her optimum.  Don't go into the
first door you pass on the left.  In the room that looks like it's from the
Magitek factory, get the Hero Ring only if Edgar knows Flare.

Inferno:
Echo Screen/Joker Doom.

Two rooms after Inferno, there will be a chest on the right with a Megalixir.
Get it.  Go to the chest with the red star and push A.  Continue on, Go to
the switch near the big door and step on it: the door will open.  Go back to
the stairs.  Remove the Charm Bangle.  Switch parties twice.

Go to the stairs across from Celes.  Switch parties twice.

Give Edgar Charm Bangle, give Locke Thief Knife/Force Shield/Force Armor/
Bard's Hat, equip Edgar optimum.  Just go through the tower, through the door
that the other two parties opened, go left and then down, push the anvil over
the edge.  Go back and step on the switch.  Remove the Charm Bangle.  Switch
parties.

Go through the door Edgar went through, go right, push the anvil over the
edge, go back and stand on the switch.  Switch parties.

Give Celes Charm Bangle.  Go through the door, step on the switch in the
middle.  It will make passages going both up and down.  Go down first, step on
the switch, then go up.

Guardian:
Echo Screen/Joker Doom.

Time: 5:31

Go to Poltergeist.

Poltergeist:
Echo Screen/Joker Doom.

Tent.  Stay on the save point.  Switch parties.

Give Edgar Charm Bangle.  Go fight Doom.

Doom:
Vanish/Doom.

Tent.  Stand on the button.  Give Locke Running Shoes/White Cape, give Edgar
Hero Ring/Hyper Wrist.  Switch parties.

A few steps in front of Goddess, give Mog Gem Box in place of Moogle Charm.

Goddess:
Vanish/Doom

Give Mog Moogle Charm in place of Gem Box.  Don't heal- the only way Mog
should show up in the final battle is if you get hit by Calmness right before
Kefka.  Kefka always opens with Fallen One, so healing Mog is useless.  Stand
on the button.  Switch parties.

Give Celes Gem Box/Earring, save, step on the button.

Time: 5:36

This is how I'm equipped for the final battle:
Setzer- (any Esper)- 2 Earrings- Man Eater/Force/Bard's Hat/Force
Celes- (any Esper)- Gem Box/Earrings- Enhancer/Genji/Crystal/Minerva
Locke- Unicorn- Running Shoes/White Cape- Thief Knife/Force/Bard's Hat/Force
Edgar- (any Esper)- Hero Ring/Hyper Wrist- Enhancer/Flame/Genji/Crystal
Mog- (any Esper)- any/any- any/any/any/any
(If you have Bahamut, Edgar gets 2 Hero Rings, and Flares instead of Drills).
This setup works quite well, and if you're careful and a tiny bit lucky, you
won't be seeing Mog.  Basically, you want Locke and Setzer to have very high
M Evade, you want Edgar to have Flame Shield (mostly because Tier 3 uses
Merton) and the best defensive equipment you have left over, and you want
Celes to have Minerva.  The Running Shoes are usually unnecessary: they don't
make much of a difference when you have more than two characters active.
If people start dying, though, it's nice to have Locke's turn come up more
quickly, so that's why he gets them.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final Battle
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It can take as little as 12 minutes from the final save until Kefka starts to
crumble.

Have Setzer/Celes/Locke/Edgar be your starting party.  You should be able to
get this party by just selecting "End" without choosing any characters as long
as Mog is on the bottom.  You always want Celes to be casting two Ultimas,
which means you will have to Elixir her every other turn.  Have Edgar or Locke
do this.  When everybody is running low on MP, Megalixir.  Mog isn't much
good, so try to keep everybody alive.  You may be hit by any of the following
status ailments: Imp, Petrify, Frozen, or the numerous effects of Train.
Green Cherry imps, Soft statues, Fire magic frozen characters, and have Locke
call Unicorn after Train.  If you get hit by Train a second time, use
Remedies.  Edgar should also know the spell Remedy.  Echo Screens will also
do, as Mute is the only effect of Train that you really need to worry about.

Tier 1:
Have Edgar Break the open hand, have Celes Ultima, have Setzer Fire3 the face,
have Locke Fire3 the face when he's not healing, have Edgar Drill the face
once the open hand is petrified.  Once the face dies, Ultima/Bolt3/Drill the
fist.  Because of your M Evade you might not have to heal, but don't count on
it.

Tier 2:
Have Edgar Mute the thing in the back.  If Mog came in (which would indicate
that you're doing extremely poorly), have him Doom the thing in the top
middle, then use Bio.  If you didn't lose anybody, have Edgar Doom instead.
Have Celes Ultima, have Setzer Ice3 the bottom right thing, have Locke Fire3
the bottom right thing when he has a spare moment, have Edgar drill the bottom
right thing once his other duties are completed.  After the bottom right thing
is dead, focus on the top right (having Setzer Bolt3), and then the thing in
the back (having Setzer Bolt3).  Locke will probably still be using Fire3 more
often than healing.

Tier 3:
If Mog is in, have him Bio the thing in front.  Have Celes Ultima, have Setzer
Bolt3 the guy in the front, have Locke Fire3 the guy in the front if he has a
spare moment, have Edgar Drill the front thing.  If Celes and Setzer are both
Muted, have Locke call Unicorn.  As a precaution, you can have Locke Life3
Celes- if she gets hit by Calmness, Kefka will take several times as long.

Kefka:
Bio won't hurt Kefka- Mog can only use items and fight.  The best thing to
do with him is to have him Elixir anybody who is running low on magic.  If you
have Thunder Rods left, he can use them.  If Mog dies, don't bother to
revive him.  Love Sonata (for Elf Fire) is the best dance you have, but don't
use it unless you're desperate and you know Kefka only has about 1000 HP left.
Megalixir or Cure3 after Fallen One.  Have Celes Ultima, have Setzer Bolt3,
have Locke Fire3 if he has a spare moment, have Edgar Drill.  If Celes and
Setzer are both Muted, have Locke call Unicorn.

Time: 5:51




==============================================================================
Credits
==============================================================================

MasterZED's Monster Statistics Guide was a great resource while I was putting
this together.  Also, MasterZED's Slot guide taught me how to Joker Doom at
will, which probably knocked about 15 minutes off my game time.

Proscientia's 10-hour Challenge Walkthrough was a useful resource.  It gave me
the idea of killing off Vicks and Wedge, and it was good to have something to
check my strategies against.

Thanks to everyone on the GameFAQs message board who told me what Battle
Speed did.  I believe The nOOb Avenger was the first.

Thanks to beaubeitscher for telling me about waiting at the title screen to
skip the intro, and about avoiding the second and third battles in Narshe.

Thanks to MeepleLard for the idea of using Ramuh in the factory.

Thanks to my friend Josh for suggesting how to skip the relic tutorial.

Thanks to assassin17 for help on various points, especially the Valiant Knife/
Sniper Sight combo for Cactrots.