                        Final Fantasy 3/6j Natural Magic Game FAQ
                                       Meeple Lard
                           Date: 4/05/05  Version:0.3

Table of contents:
FAQ History
Legal Stuff
1. Overview of the Game Itself
2. Introduction to the FAQ and the Challenge
3. Rules of the Challenge
4. General Tips for the NMG
5. Characters and all that stuff
6. Mini Walkthrough
7. More tips
8. Frequently Asked Questions
9. Credits

Version 0.2:
 -Added the list of spells and levels Terra and Celes learn everything
 -Grammar fix up in some areas
 -Continued Walkthrough
 -Added a few points here and there to older parts of the FAQ
Version 0.1:
 -Guide's First Creation, not much to say.

Legal Stuff:
This FAQ is a copyright of Meeple Lard.  It can be found on GameFAQs and
only GameFAQs.  If it's found anywhere else, then note that I did not give
permission for them to use it.  People who wish to use information from
this FAQ for their own must first have my permission, and give credit
where Credit is due.  If you wish to contact me for such occasions, my E-
mail is DbzFFlord@aol.com.  My less used one, in case you're curious, is
MeepleLard@hotmail.com.   If you wish to speak to me directly, my MSN is
MeepleLard@Hotmail.com and my AIM is DbzFFLord@aol.com. That's about it
for this boring legal stuff.

------------------------------
1. Overview of the Game Itself
------------------------------
NOTE: For those thinking this looks familiar, its cause this is straight
out of my SCC FAQ. I didn't feel like typing this again, and it works just
as well here, so why bother wasting time typing it again?

Ok, some of you are wondering "WTF?  We all know what this game is; don't
bother with an overview of the game itself!"  True, this game doesn't need
much, but oh well, YOU CAN'T STOP ME!  Anyway, I've also done this in my
other 3 FAQs, all 3 of which were for games not released in the US, so
this is really just I being consistent with my other guides.  Anyway, this
game has 2 known names.  It's the 6th installment in the Final Fantasy
Series, one of the most famous Series of RPGs, and one of the most
successful of all time as well.  In the
US, it was the 3rd Final Fantasy game of the main series (Final Fantasy
Legends was really Saga, Final Fantasy Adventure was really the first
Seiken Densetsu Game (aka the Mana Series), and Final Fantasy Mystic
Quest was just a spin off using the same name) to be released here, and
thus, it was called "Final Fantasy 3."  Well, most people nowadays call it
FF6, since nearly everyone knows that it's really the 6th one, and to
avoid confusion from FF3j, the REAL FF3.  Anyway, this game was released
for the SNES originally (or SFC if you're thinking Japanese), and later,
re-released on the PSX (or PS1 if you rather) in "Final Fantasy
Anthologies" along with FF5 (The first time the game LEGALLY came to the
US, not including all those imports).

For those who don't know (and if you're planning on doing the challenge,
that means you've probably beaten the game already), FF6's background is
1000 years before the events in the game; a great war called the "War of
the Magi" occurred, which was a war between Humans and Espers, Magical
Semi Divine beings, so to speak.  In the end of the war, Civilization was
lost and destroyed, the World somewhat destroyed, and Man Kind forced to
Start over, along with the Espers creating their own world and living away
from the war stricken humans.  1000 years later, Man Kind and the World
have made a full recovery, and peace once again exists.  However, a
certain person named Gestahl discovers the secret behind Magic, a powerful
force which has not existed for 1000 years, and decides to use it to take
over the world.  Thus, another great war is about to ensue.

At one point, Narshe, a neutral coal mine city, discovers an Esper frozen
in their mines, and that gets the whole world's attention.  The Empire,
which Gestahl's force is referred to as, sends out an attack force using
of 3 warriors in Magitek Armor, a giant mechanical suit of armor infused
with magical energy.  2 of these were just normal soldiers, one of them
however was a mysterious young woman, whom we later learn is named Terra,
who apparently has extraordinary Magical Powers granted to her at birth,
and has already wiped out 50 of the best Magitek Knights (warriors of the
Empire infused with Magic) in under 3 minutes.  Long story short,
Vicks/Biggs (Depends version) and Wedge, the 2 soldiers, die, and Terra
gets knocked unconscious.  She wakes up with Amnesia, not knowing anything
what happened in an old man's house, and learns that she was being
controlled DIRECTLY through the use of the Slave Crown.  Basically, that's
the games intro; you should either know the rest of it, or if you don't
you'll find out through playing the game.  I don't want to get into those
boring "A game of magic, mystery, betrayal, friendship, etc." kind of BS,
so I'll just get to the point of this FAQ.

--------------------------------------------
2. Introduction to the FAQ and the Challenge
--------------------------------------------

Alright, some of you might be wondering what a Natural Magic Game (called
NMG from here on in) is.  Well, it's probably the most basic (and easiest)
of all challenges that is in FF6.  Before reading on, I suggest you at
least play the game once through, and unlike other challenges, however,
this one can easily be done on your second (heck, some people do it on
their first not realizing what Espers do, actually), given its got the
smallest amount of restrictions.  While doable on your first play through,
you should at least play the game once through (I know I said this already)
so you are familiar with the game itself, characters, basics, etc.  Its
just common sense playing a game once through before doing a challenge.
Anyway, you still curious?  Well, read on!

The NMG is basically the concept of "How good would certain characters be
if there wasn't the Esper System?" or "How many characters are reliant on
the Magic Command to be good" and all that stuff.  The NMG kind of shows
how the game would be if you didn't have any Espers, and the only Magic
around was from Terra, Celes, Relm's Sketches/Controls, Gau's Rages, and
Gogo using any of the above.

Where did I come up with the idea?  Well, most people think of it
themselves, so I really can't take credit for the idea, and such.  Its
probably the oldest and most practiced challenge (with the exception of
the LLG), and again, probably the easiest as well.

Before I go on, I would just like to point out the names used are assuming
your playing the SNES version, "Final Fantasy 3 US" So if your playing it
on the PSX via FFA, or your playing the Japanese version (w/ or w/out some
fan translation), there might be a few name discrepancies.  Example?  When
I say Trump, I mean Setzers weapon which is buyable in Kohlingen that
"randomly dispatches enemies", and Doom Darts refers to the weapon found
in the Cave to the Ancient Castle, which randomly casts doom, not the
other way around, which from what I understand, is the case in FFA (Doom
Darts are store bought, Trump is a chest item.  The weapons are the
exactly the same as before, just the names got swapped) So don't e-mail me
something like "what the hell is this 'Memento Ring'" or "Dude! You can't
have the Trump before Daryl's Tomb!", cause the obvious reason behind this
is that your probably playing the PSX version, this assumes your playing
the original.  Keep in mind, besides the few name changes, the rest of
games are pretty much identical, so you can still use this FAQ for the PSX
version, as long as you know which refers to what, and you ignore any
strategy involving Gau using the Merit Award (can't be equipped on him the
PSX version, so I'm told, which means no Wind God Gau.  Note that chances
are, I'm not going to recommend any Merit Award set ups outside the
Colosseum, so chances are, this is a moot point anyway)

-------------------------
3. Rules of the Challenge
-------------------------

As the name of this section implies, this is for *Gasp* the Rules!  That's
right, what you can do, what you can't do, what you should consider, and
things that you shouldn't even care about and I'm only listing them for
humor value...or not *rolls eyes*
For starters, the first question is "Why this is called a natural Magic
game and not a No Esper game?" Well, that question will be answered later,
in the Frequently Asked Sections part. This part is about the rules, darn
it!  Stay Focused!

1. First and for most, the most obvious rule, more so than the challenge
itself.  Cheating is not allowed!  So don't use Game Genie/Shark, hacking,
trainers, etc.  This is just "Duh" but I'm saying it anyway.  Come on,
completing the game with 37 Ragnarok's hacked onto your entire team since
the Opera house is just not fair.  However, there is a form of hacking
I'll allow, which is sealing off the "Esper" Command in the skills Menu,
so you are not tempted to use it.  I can see some people doing that, and
in fact, I approve of it (I would do it, but yours truly sucks at hacking)
But beyond ideas to help preserve the nature of the challenge, especially
ideas used to downright make your life easier, are just obviously "NO!"
Oh, and I consider Relm's sketch glitch cheating too.  Well, the one that
gives you loads of Illuminas, Ragnaroks, etc; the one that destroys your
game is allowed, granted, I'm not sure why you'd want to use that.  Also,
try to avoid other exploitable Bugs.  So while you don't have Doom in this
game, you do have Gau's Rhodox Rage, so no Vanish + Snare combos, your not
getting out those hard boss fights that easy (unless of course the enemy
is stupid enough to cast Vanish on themselves, in which case, they are
begging you to kill them *waves Hi to Intangr*)
NOTE: Vanish + Spell is not necessarily forbidden, only in cases where its
clearly abusing some shoddy programming/bug.  In the case of, say, Vanish
+ Break, your just casting Vanish and wanting Break to have 100% hit rate,
and if the enemy is immune to Stone, Break might hit, but the enemy won't
be killed.  Mind, I don't suggest you do this, heck, just to be safe, I'd
say not try it, but just warning before hand.

2. Anyways, with the obvious "Do Not Cheat" rule out, here's the 2nd most
obvious rule.  You may not teach any character any spell unless they learn
it naturally, hence the name of the challenge.  What's a naturally learned
spell?  One learned through the course of leveling up, which means no
Espers or spell teaching equipment.  Who can learn Magic that means?  Well,
obviously, only Terra and Celes, since they are the only ones who learns
spells this way.  However, Gogo is allowed to use Magic if he is paired
with one of those babes since that's his own special feature.  Likewise,
Gau can use magic through Rages (like Templar casts Fire2), or characters
can use Magic if it's a random cast from a weapon (like Relm smacking an
enemy with a Thunder Rod has a 25% Chance of casting Bolt2)  Oh, and Relm
casting magic by using Control or Sketch is allowed too, same reason as
Gau, basically (and Gogo can mimic them, or use the skills themselves if
he wants to, obviously) So yeah, the only characters who should have the
"Magic" command in their battle menus are Terra, Celes, and if you wish,
Gogo too.
Obviously, the NMG doesn't start til right after Zozo, since that's when
you get your first espers, and before that, you don't have much of a
choice but to play an NMG.  So don't expect to see any mentions before
that.

3. Rod and Shield Breaking.  Ah this is the fun part.  What about this
loop hole of using certain magic spells1?  Well, the answer is, if the Rod
is found in a chest, then I'll allow that.  Otherwise, no.  No store
bought Rods so you can have everyone use Fire2, and such (let alone a
Fire2 spell that ignores Defense and Random variance -_-) What about Rods
found from random drops?  I'll let you decide on that one.  As far as
Shields go, I'd say try and not using them.  You shouldn't need them, only
use them as a complete last resort (Same with Rod Breaking)

4. Try to avoid over leveling.  By that, I mean no extra leveling just for
the sake of getting strong characters.  Lots of people pin end game levels
at 40, some go as high as 50, others as low as 30.  Now, you don't need to
be any numerical level, but use judgment.  Level 60 might be a bit high,
for example, but still conceivable.  Meanwhile, level 80 is obviously way
too high, since you clearly when to the dino forest or something and spent
a few hours there building up.  Mind, there's no law about beating the
game at lower levels, since it's just making your life harder.  Feel free
to beat the game at level 19 if you wish, I won't stop you, just suggest
against it since it won't be a ride in the park...or something.

5. There are some equipment that are restricted.  Basically, anything that
teaches a spell.  What items are banned?  The following and reasons why:
Flame Shield (Teaches Fire2)
Ice Shield (Teaches Ice2)
Thunder Shield (Gee, can't think of it, Bolt2 just doesn't fit here >_>)
Paladin Shield (Teaches Ultima, sorry, no cheesey Blue Sphere of Doom that
does 9999 for you)
Tortoise Shield (Teaches Imp (though, I doubt anybody cares for this loss))
Imp Armor (See Tortoise shield)
Titanium (See Imp Armor)
Cursed Ring (Teaches X-zone, granted, you'd have to be insane to want to
use this, let alone get it)
Force Shield (Damn, as good as this Shield is...it teaches Shell, stupid
shield teaching an illegal spell making it not legal itself *Shakes fist*)

Now, some people think that its OK to give characters that already know
said spells those shields, since it doesn't affect them, others think its
unfair treatment.  Use your own ruling here.  If you do, however, then
here's who can use what:
Terra: Flame Shield (after learning Fire2), Paladin Shield (after Learning
Ultima, which she shouldn't, given its learned at level 99 -_-)
Celes: Ice Shield (after learning Ice2), Tortoise Shield (after learning
Imp), Imp Armor (Ditto), Titantium (yup)
Gogo: everything, go him for not learning spells the traditional way!
Everyone else: Nothing, sucks for them
(Ultimately, this means if you want an Imp Character, that character must
be Celes or Gogo!)
NOTE: I realize I called Gogo a He when that's not necessarily true.  For
sanity purposes, and simplicity, Gogo will be used in conjunction with
Male pronouns, so no E-mailing me complaining about that!

Mind, its not as big a deal as one might think, only Gogo really benefits
(Paladin Shield...), since Terra and Celes are just getting redundant
elemental resistances, thanks to their Minervas.

6. Merit Award.  I wouldn't bring this up, but some people have asked
about it on the Boards. Really, unlike the SCC (Where its meant to show
characters special traits), there is no reason not to disallow the Merit
Award (unless you consider NMG to stand for "No Merit-Award Challenge" as
well) So...again, this I'll let you decide.  Personally, I didn't use it,
mind, I hate the darn thing for several reasons (outside of Wind God Gau),
but again, that's just me.  It doesn't mean I disallow the thing, it just
means I didn't use it.  So I'll let you make the call on this.

7. The game is to be beaten in total "completion" No, I don't mean go and
get all 250 or so of Gau's Rages, that'd be mean.  I mean do all side
quests, get all Espers (not including Ragnarok if you want the sword (and
given the nature of the challenge, YOU WILL!)) as if you were forced to,
etc.  How do you do the Fanatic's tower?  I'll get to that later, worry
not!

8. Lores are ALLOWED!  Honestly, people who classify Lores as "Magic"
really should just think of it as an alternative skill set to Magic, given
that's exactly what it is.  Why nerf Strago just cause his abilities are
similar to magic?  And if anything else, just considering Blue Mage
learning style "natural" if nothing else.  Honestly, Strago gets Lores,
and so does Gogo.  There is no restriction to Lores whatsoever, be it
learning them naturally, from the help of Gau, Relm, or Gogo using Rage,
Sketch or Control, whatever, just as long as its not cheating, obviously.

9. What the? Have fun? DIE!  *Stabs* That is not a Rule, EVER, in my case!
You are NEVER pressured to have Fun!  You can do the challenge, be bored
out of your mind, and still have done it with completion.  Damn it, stop
assuming that's a rule all of a sudden >_<

Abiding by these rules aren't an option (even if I say "take them as you
will"), it is an order.  Failure to comply will result in being kicked...oh,
bah, now I'm just acting like my friends who do this stuff (don't ask),
just follow the rules, and when you finish, you'll have completed the NMG
legitly.  Have...wait, I just said you didn't have to >_>

---------------------------
4. General Tips for the NMG
---------------------------

These are general tips for the NMG, meaning they are good throughout the
whole challenge.  If you don't see a specific tip in the Walkthrough, and
die, then try a strategy, and start yelling at me cause I didn't list it,
chances are, I did list it, here, since it was a general strategy that
worked.  So do not IM me about leaving something out of the walkthrough
unless you check here first!

-Back Row is your friend.  Nearly every character in the game has a means
of using the back Row.  Terra and Celes have magic, Edgar's tools ignore
back row, Locke has Plethora of "Long Range" Weapons, Strago has Lores,
Sabin has Blitzes, Cyan has Sword Techs, etc.  Only characters to consider
front row are Gau (using a physical Rage), Relm (No form of long range
offense besides the Morning Star which tends to suck late game), and...Locke
without a Long Range weapon maybe.  Mind, even Locke and Relm can
compensate by just shoving on a dragoon boots, and their damage is now
"Long Ranged", hurray!

-Choose characters wisely.  Remember, since Magic is no longer an aspect,
nor is Esper stat boosting, characters are not going to be as strong as
they were in a normal game.  So yeah, don't expect Sabin's Low Magic Power
to be compensated for late game with esper boosting, since he can't get
boosted by said Espers (do not interpret this as "Sabin SUCKS!" though,
merely an example)  Use characters which would appear useful thanks to
their equipment, special abilities, etc., not just cause you like them
(unless you are confident to get through the area), or cause they kick ass
in a normal game thanks to Magic (yes, Relm, I'm looking at you)

-Just cause you aren't using Magic does not magic "Earrings" useless.
There are plenty of Magical attacks besides that of which Terra and Celes
(and Gogo) can use.  Here's a list of a bunch of characters that have
moves magical (I'm only listing damage ones, since that's all that matters
for this purpose, nixing gravity attacks like Slash):
Edgar's Bio Blaster and Flash
All of Sabin's Blitzes not named Pummel or Suplex
Cyan's Retort, Stunner, and Empower
Shadow's Skean class throws
All of Strago's Lores
A Bunch of oddball attacks in Gau's rages like Giga Volt
Any of Mog's dances

Might be missing a few here and there, but see?  All those attacks are
classified as "Magic"

-Raise characters equally.  You'll be thankful when you go through Kefka's
Tower with 3 parties of level 40 Characters instead of one team of level
60 Characters, and 2 other parties of level 25 characters, trust me on
this

-X-potions are as good as Elixirs...unless its Terra, Celes, Gogo or Strago
that's in question anyway.

-Tinctures are nearly worthless, with the exception of Terra, Celes, Gogo
and Strago, you have no use for them, so don't spend as much money on them
as you would.  It's also suggested you use Figaro to buy them, since Edgar
can get a discount there, and Tinctures cost more than they should.

-Don't bother with Tents.  Using Potions and Fenix downs to heal your
characters will be just as effective, considering you have no MP to heal
with the exceptions of those 4 I keep on listing.  In that case, just use
a Sleeping Bag, you have only one character using MP, why waste something
that expensive on the others?  Heck, best bet is have Terra/Celes cast
their healing spells out of battle, then use a Sleeping Bag to heal them
to full.

-MP Critical Hit weapons don't work, unless used by Terra or Celes (mind,
Punisher sucks to much anyway, so I'm not going to bother checking it
works on Strago or Gogo)  So don't waste that precious Rune Edge on Edgar,
likewise, if you plan on using Illumina or Ragnarok as weapons for
attacking (instead of Defensive equips), believe it or not, Terra and
Celes will do better with that than Edgar and Locke, despite the lower
physical Stats.  Why is this?  The game acts as though said characters
have no MP, even though they have the listed stat, unless they have the
Magic Command (not sure if Lores count or not, it doesn't matter in this
case, Punisher sucks too much), so hence, no Critical Hit beyond the
normally low chance.  However, Terra and Celes always have Magic, so they
can abuse this privilege with their hearts delight, while Locke and Edgar
are annoyed that they can't.  Mind, this isn't another restriction, it's a
fact, hence why its listed here, that while you are allowed to do it,
don't expect the same damage results with Edgar and Locke as you would in
a normal game with above mentioned weapons.

-Evade is still useless.  Yep, M. Block is your friend still as well in
that it should be called "All Block".  Blind serves no purpose beyond
stopping Strago from learning Lores, etc.  This FAQ is under the
assumption you are not using an Evade Bug Fix patch, of course.  So yeah,
as pretty as that nice 99% Evade Shadow can get in the WoB, its totally
useless in reality, makes you want to shoot that bug, doesn't it?

-When Danger reared its ugly head, the FF6 team turned its tail and fled
(to the tune of "Brave Sir Robin" from Monty Pyhton and the Holy Grail.)
In other words, if you feel you are going to die in a random fight, say
because you were ambushed and hit with strong attacks right off the bat,
do not feel obliged against running.  You do not have to win every fight
out there, if you are going to lose, better to run.  He who lives and runs
away is he who can continue the NMG by healing after the battle, and play
the quest forth...or something like that.

That's all I can think of for now.  I'll add more on later.  Anyways onto
Character Evaluations!

--------------------------------
5. Characters and all that stuff
--------------------------------

Alright, this is how characters are going to look under an NMG setting.
Basically, it'll give you an idea of whose good to use, who sucks, whose
good for situational use, and who just looks pretty *Runs* Anyway,
characters being listed in order of appearance, meaning the order you
either get to name them, or have control of them (which is why Mog is
listed 3rd >_>), like I always do.  Why?  Cause I feel like it, and not
you, or anybody else is going to stop me, damn it!  Stop patronizing
me ;_; ...wait that doesn't make sense...yeah... *Runs*


~~~~~
Terra
~~~~~

Pros:
High Magic Power and MAGIC to use it with!
Learns Cure2 naturally
Morph kills bosses
Great Equipment Selection
Able to resist every element in some fashion, including nulling the big 3.

Cons:
A bit reliant on MP at times
Morph is wasted on Randoms

Overview:  Terra is arguably the MVP of the NMG.  With great variety of
Magic to draw upon, and high offense, along with Great Equips, and Morph
to boot.  Probably a staple in your team, shame she doesn't learn Ultima
earlier, but oh well.  The Minerva is just insult to injury as well, kind
of.  And with Drain, she can conceivably solo many bosses herself, and in
the WoR, the Soul Saber more or less stops any complaints about using MP
cause of lack of Osmose (to say nothing of it you actually get an
Econimizer).  Oh, and when you get the Gem Box, the fun REALLY begins with
her ^^

~~~~~
Locke
~~~~~

Pros:
Great weapon selection
Good late game armor
Able to steal some valuable items at times
Games best speed (for what its worth)

Cons:
Completely lacking in the damage department til near the end of the WoB
Has no form of magical damage whatsoever

Overview: Locke might be a decent character in a normal game, but in an
NMG, besides getting things like Econimizers for Terra, Celes and Strago,
or some early Gaia Gears or something, he doesn't exactly bring much until
he gets his Valiant Knife.  And once then, he needs an offering to really
do much good.  Mind, if you usually give Locke the Offering, than that's
good, but to be honest, Locke really tends to Lag in an NMG, the total
lack of any decent damage hurts him greatly until the Offering is
available, as well as getting him as late as you do in the WoR, and the
fact that there is no real incentive besides getting the Dragon Horn to
doing the Phoenix Cave in an NMG either
~~~
Mog
~~~

Pros:
Best Defenses in general
Snow Muffler makes him more or less immune to physicals
Excellent at Physical damage with Right set up
Dances destroy the WoB
Absorbs Ice thanks to his Snow Muffle

Cons:
Dances can back fire at times, which sucks
His defense sucks in the WoR w/out a Snow Muffler
Lags in the WoR til he gets the Dragon Horn

Overview: When you first get Mog, grab as many dances as possible.  They
will destroy the next few sections of the game as if it was nothing.  In
the WoR, it's a good idea to shift gears with Mog and turn him into a
Fighter.  A Dragoon Set up is the way to go with him, thanks to Spears.
However, there will be times when you want to kick Mog for using the wrong
dance at times, so make sure you have other reliable characters if you
plan on using him.  Don't rely too much on Mog's dances for healing
(unless its Wing Song, but even then...)  Can be a valuable asset with the
proper set up, the Snow Muffler makes him especially so.

~~~~~
Edgar
~~~~~

Pros:
Tools make him an offensive power house in the WoB
Great overall equipment selection
Has the option of Red Jacket if Fire Immunity is needed
Good damage under right set up

Cons:
Total lack of healing
Tools tend to get progressively worse after you get Chain Saw, relatively
speaking
WoB Armor seems pretty subpar besides the Shields.
A bit Sluggish (for what its worth)

Overview: Edgar kicks ass, as usual.  He won't change much in the WoB,
since your just spamming his tool usage.  In the WoR, however, Edgar will
most defiantly probably be used as a Dragoon, since he can't opt for a
128% M. Block Set up w/out Illumina/Ragnarok, and his Tools' damage starts
lagging by then too.  He is clearly, one of your more useful characters,
but then again, when is Edgar ever a bad character?

~~~~~
Sabin
~~~~~

Pros:
High Damage, both ST and MT
Strong Weapon early on
Fire Immunity through Red Jacket
Can be gotten early in the WoR

Cons:
No Control of his ST damage
Tends to be easily outclassed by at least one other character at
everything
Bad Selection of Armor
Low M. Block scores

Overview: Sabin as usual, enters with a bang, having Aura Bolt and such.
Granted, he never quite seems to be the best as what he does, since Gau
beats him in ST Damage early on (albeit, he can't be controlled), and soon
Edgar gets Chain Saw.  He has great MT damage early on, but unfortunately,
Setzer matches that, and beats him in ST damage too.  Sabin is good if you
need to offensive Punch, and his damage being magic makes it decent, but
don't expect a good tank at all.  Not necessarily a bad choice, but often,
there's usually someone who can do his job better, or almost as good, and
brings more to the team.

~~~~~~
Shadow
~~~~~~

Pros:
High Damage, both ST and MT
Interceptor gives him 50% innate physical evasion
ST Damage can be targeted
Can hit every elemental weakness in the game with proper weapons

Cons:
Little use of him early on
Needs lots of time and Money to make worth using
No elemental resistance of any kind outside Gaia Gear (which most can use)
Middling Equipment options at best

Overview: Shadow early on will not be much help, from lack of his
existence.  In the WoR, he'll be a great asset though, with his high
damage, which can be targeted manually (unlike Blitz or Swordtech), being
able to hit all elements making him as strong a boss fighter as Terra, and
for what its worth, he's got good speed to.  His flaws are he doesn't take
hits well unless you give him the Genji Armor, and something like Genji
Shield or Aegis Shield (actually, those are the only legal things he can
use that are better than the Mithril Shield) A good choice in most areas,
in the WoR at least, and you won't feel it a handicapped that he's your
forced 4th character on the FC either.

~~~~
Cyan
~~~~

Pros:
Dispatch does decent damage early on
Good damage if you don't mind the charge times
Some good armor options late game

Cons:
Out classed by too many characters
Horrible choice of weapons outside of the Tempest
Bad "To Go" damage
Fairly Slow (for those who care about speed)

Overview: Cyan really isn't going to be all that helpful.  The Tempest is
nice, but before that, he really doesn't have anything going for him,
being that, for starters, whatever he can do, Edgar can do better, and he
has no control over his Sword techs target.  If you plan on using him,
make sure he always has a Tempest on (or maybe Scimitar, if you like
Instant Death), since he otherwise lacks good MT damage that can be used
first hand.

~~~
Gau
~~~

Pros:
Maxed Defense from Snow muffler
Amazing Variety
Elemental Resistances obtained through variety of Rages
Great Base stats

Cons:
Absolutely no way to control him unless you force him to use "Item"
Choosing the wrong Rage can make him end up sucking
Equipment options aren't too great before the Snow Muffler
Lack of weapon means no extra stat boosts (not a big flaw, mind, but still
one)

Overview: Gau will become exceedingly useful.  The ability to cast level
2s early on is as useful as it always is, and he's just about the only way
to do good lightning damage consistently outside of Shadow (and Gogo).
That is to say nothing of all those elemental and status immunities.  Keep
in mind that using Gau can be a pain at times, if you don't know what
Rages are good for what situation, or he keeps using his fight command
when you need him to cast Cure3.  So, Gau isn't someone to be totally
reliant on in the same way Mog is, but he's defiantly a good addition,
just again make sure your other 3 characters won't to reliant on his use.
However, never let that hold you back from using him, he's clearly a
valuable asset at any time, just make sure you keep his Rage list up to
par.


~~~~~
Celes
~~~~~

Pros:
Access to Magic skill set
All the same equipment options as Terra

Cons:
Her draw of Magic is a bit disappointing
A reliant on MP
No real advantages over Terra, especially if no enemies weak to Ice

Overview: When you first think of Celes, you think Magic, and that this is
a natural Magic game, and that she is going to be really helpful, right?
Well, not as much as you'd expect.  She misses a few key aspects that made
Terra really great, such as missing Cure2, or Morph.  Celes isn't a bad
character per say, its just she's obsolete in this case especially, since
in general, what she can do, Terra can do and better.  However, having a
2nd person with lots of Elemental Resistances at all times is nice, and
Cure is good for out of battle healing early on too.  Not a bad character,
necessarily, but she isn't as good as you'd expect at first.

~~~~~~
Setzer
~~~~~~

Pros:
Slots are strong early on (if you know their timing)
Fixed Dice do good damage, especially with offering, and work in the back
row at full power
Good draw of armors

Cons:
Slots suck if you can't time them right
Lags a bit in the WoR before Fixed Dice
Giving him Offering hurts Locke (and Vice Versa)

Overview: Setzer is a decent choice, but only if you can use his slots
consistently.  Now, when I say that, I mean actually only 7 Flush and
Chocobop, not H-bomb or higher (which can be rigged against you, though,
you can unrig them by using an Echo Screen, believe it or not) oddly,
those 2 attacks are stronger than you might expect.  In the WoR, Setzer's
slots stall to get pretty disappointing on damage, so if you plan on using
him, I suggest going to Kefka's tower, grabbing his Fixed Dice, and then
leaving, since it's the only

~~~~~~
Strago
~~~~~~

Pros:
Lores are great supplements for Magic
Some nice magic boosting equips

Cons:
Outside of Magus Rod, he has poor choice of weapons
Absolutly horrid stats
A bit too MP reliant like the girls

Overview: Strago is a nice utility have to around.  Pearl Wind makes him
an excellent healer, and it can be gotten early on.  His spells do some
good damage too, especially Grand Train.  His low Magic Power (for a Mage)
though makes them do less damage than you'd want, and getting him late is
annoying, in both the WoB and WoR.  Still, if you plan on not using Terra,
I recommend using Strago, he's a great choice in general.  There is also a
bit of the flaw that he's a bit MP reliant, and unlike Celes or Terra, he
can't equip the Soul Saber.  Nonetheless, Strago is without a doubt one of
the most useful characters in an NMG, only Terra and Gau will see more use,
most likely.

~~~~
Relm
~~~~

Pros:
Her Weapons randomly cast spells doing great Damage
Cat Hood gets 2x GP

Cons:
3/4s of the time, her attack is complete crap
Sketch and Control are too situational to be truly useful

Overview: Relm's selling point in a normal game was her game best Magic
Power, making her the strongest damage dealer with the Magic Skillset.
Well, now you can see Relm suck to highest ends, w/out a magic skillset.
Her game best magic power goes to waste, her special can't save her, and
her weapons are just sad, only decency is 25% of the time, they can do
high damage when they randomly cast their spell.  Obviously, Relm has very
limited use, even if that much.  A waste of the game's best magic power,
no questions asked.  Shame too, since used properly, in a normal game,
she's not a bad character by any means.

~~~~~
Umaro
~~~~~

Pros:
Is totally unaffected in an NMG Setting
Can be immune/absorb the big 3 Elements all at once

Cons:
Still has limited use outside the Fanatics tower -_-
Can't be controlled at all

Overview: Umaro will end up being useful in only one place, that being the
fanatics tower.  Beyond that...he's more or less the same as before, having
unspecial (is that a word?) damage, no control, what have you.  He's not
as bad in comparison as he was before, but he's still someone who is
likely to just gather dust on the Airship.

~~~~
Gogo
~~~~

Pros:
Can use Magic w/ Terra or Celes as Allies
Can use Lores, Blitzes (better than Sabin at that!), Rages, what have you
*Can use any equipment w/out any restrictions from a normal game

*This depends on interpretations of your own rules.  I myself never
actually cared enough about this (meaning Gogo doesn't end up with Illegal
equips anyway), but your own ruling might differ.

Cons:
Still can't use anything close to a decent piece of Armor
Still has trash stats, even if the others can't boost them

Overview: Gogo is like Strago, but overall better, besides the lack of
some of his nice equips (like Behemoth Suit) Probably, you'll start using
Gogo more than Strago in the WoR, since Gogo can do most of what you were
using Strago for, and more, such as higher damage with Bum Rush, mimicking
usage of some kinds of attacks, what have you.  Clearly, a great character
to have, in this setting.

With that, you can kind of see whose useful, who sucks, whose unaffected,
who gets shafted, and who you just didn't care about before hand, in this
setting.

-------------------
6. Mini Walkthrough
-------------------

Ah, time for the longest section of the FAQ, at least I expect it to be.
If not, then don't come with flaming torches, Pitch Forks, Bunnies, what
have you if I'm wrong, this was only a guess, and its possible it might
not be finished, so there!

Well, I'll skip any part before finding Terra in Zozo, since that's when
you get your first Espers, and prior to that, your just playing a darn
normal game, so play it normally until then.  But a few things I recommend:

A. Get the Thunder Rod in Locke's Scenario.  This means do not get the
items in the Figaro Cave when you first go through there, but rather, wait
til Locke's scenario to grab them.  The Thunder Rod is far more useful
than the Tincture, all things considered (and it's a free weapon for
Strago and Relm when they join!)

B. Make sure you have all the Rages you want.  You aren't going to be able
to go back to the Veldt after the opera house until after you beat the
whole Magitek Factory, so if you plan on using Gau, make sure you have all
the rages you want.  I highly recommend getting the Aspik Rage.  Gigavolt
might feel a bit overpowered for now, but its nifty, all things considered.

C. Get the Genji Glove.  It's the only way to actually make Locke worth
using, at all, and considering you're forced to use him right at the start
of the NMG, you'll be thankful you got that.  The Gauntlet sucks complete
and utter ass.

D. Make sure your characters have all their best equipment.  Having 4
Green Beret's by now could help (though you'll be able to buy them soon,
so yeah, don't worry about that), but here's what characters should look
like.

First off, Celes and Locke matter most, since you are forced to use them,
so I'll list them first:

Locke: Full Moon, 2 if you want to Genji Glove him (which I recommend),
Ninja Gear for Armor.  Oh, Sneak Ring could be helpful if you want to
steal.  Make sure you nab that from Narshe.

Celes: Give her a Flail.  Yeah, she can't use Runic, but chances are, you
are not going to need it.  Her damage is limited, especially in the back
row, so with Flail, you can put her in the back row w/out any problems.
White Dress is especially helpful too.  I suggest having a Magus Hat in
your inventory at least, you might find that +5 to magic Boost helpful
from time to time (not necessary, but you never know)

All Characters should have mithril Shields for a shield, since, duh,
that's the best one around.
Now for the others

Sabin and Gau should both be outfitted with Ninja Gear, and Sabin should
have his Fire Knuckles.  Edgar doesn't care what weapon he gets, he's not
using it really, his Armor should be Mithril vest, which is the best he's
going to get.  Cyan just needs a sword, doesn't matter what, just give him
one, Dispatch > his Fight command, just about always.  Armor also should
be Mitrhil Vest.

Done all that? Good.  What about Shadow?  Well, simply put, DO NOT USE
SHADOW!  He'll only hurt you since your going to lose him almost
immediately anyway, and 3 characters is inferior to 4, and such so...yeah.
Oh, and there's the fact you need to pay for his temporary services too...

Finally, grab all the chests in the Narshe House.  A few things there
might seem a bit "bah" but the Wall Ring, Sneak Ring, and 3rd pair of
earrings will be helpful.  Also head North of Kolighen and get the Hero
Ring, which could be treated as an Atlas Armlet, or a 4th Pair of
earrings...or both!  Grab all the Tools you can get in Figaro, if you're
using Edgar, and the Chain Saw from Zozo, those will be exceedingly
helpful early on as well.

Now, I know a lot of this is common sense, but I don't want people
complaining saying "why didn't you tell me this!" when they shouldn't be
doing a challenge as basic as this w/out knowing basic knowledge, so yeah,
don't feel bad if it sounds like I'm babying you, I just want to avoid
some annoying E-mails.

Anyway, on to the Walkthrough! Should be noted that its not as small as
the word "Mini" might imply

NOTE:
#name# = Event, IOWs, a new area, place, plot sequence, what have you
%name% = Boss fight.  Self explanatory

#After Zozo#

Alright, first things first, who to1 use?  Well, Celes and Locke are no
brainers, your forced to use them, so that parts done, but what about the
other 4?  Well, here's what each bring:

Edgar: Great Defense Ignoring damage, which is handy given the high
defense creatures in the Magitek Factory, though, most of its ST.  Flash
is magical damage that is MT, but is a bit lower than you probably want,
even with 2 Earrings/Hero Rings.

Sabin: Strong Multi Target Magical damage, especially with 2 Earrings/Hero
Ring, and Pummel is good for non elemental physical damage ignores defense
to boot.  Fire Knuckles will help you make a total mockery of Ultros

Cyan: He brings...nothing, really.  Whatever he can do, Sabin or Edgar
really already cover, so your better using them.  Dispatch I guess is good
for killing an enemy outright, but Chain Saw and Pummel do that just as
well anyway.

Gau: Amazing Versatility and damage, both magical and Physical, but he's a
bit unreliable.  Gau is always like this, mind.

So...who to use?  Well, clearly, not Cyan, sorry to say, but being out
classes by *2* characters completely in the next area is not a good thing.
I suggest Edgar, since his damage is probably the best you have reliably,
and he gets a few good equipment boosts in the next place.  Now between
Gau and Sabin...well, Sabin is better at Clearing Randoms, there's no
mistake, but Gau is better at killing the Bosses in the next dungeon.  Who
is better is up to you.  Really, using any 2 of those 3 is a good idea.  I
know I sound like I'm coming off as an Anti Cyan person, but I really
can't see a situation where he'd be more useful than Edgar or Sabin in the
upcoming stage, ESPECIALLY since Quadra Slam is nerfed to hell with those
high Defense enemies.

Chose with 2 you want?  Good, I'm going to assume you chose all 4, even
though that's impossible, since I don't know who you chose, just so I can
give strategies, bwahahaha! Tricked you! *Runs*

#Opera House#

Alright, here, do the usual stuff, don't mess the Opera up, what have you.
Then Ultros attacks, hurray! Now kill the rats time!

The rats are fairly simple to kill.  Kill the Yellow ones first, as always.
Edgar's Chain Saw makes short work of them, especially since you can
target it.  Not much has changed here as a normal game.

%Ultros%

He's pretty simple.  Locke should attack or act as a utility man, though
this fight should be over pretty fast.  Sabin w/ Atlas Armlet or Hero Ring
can do some pretty disgusting damage to the guy, given his fire Weakness,
the relative strength of the Fire Knuckles at the time, Ultros' low
defense score, and the random Fire castings to boost.  Edgar should use
Chain Saw, or if that's being a ***** to you using mostly the instant
death (Making it useless against Ulty), use Drill instead.  Gau should
Rage either Templar, Bomb/Vaporite, or Overmind, all of them use Strong
Fire spells (Fire2 or better), and that is likely to do some really nasty
things to the guy.  Cyan...if you can get Quadra slam up, use it.  Otherwise,
stick to Dispatch.  All in all, a pretty simple start to the challenge,
though, beyond the lack of Cure spells, Bolt, and fire, this isn't much of
a change.

#Southern Continent#

Alright, before doing anything, Re-equip Celes.  Yes, I know the idea of
Celes naked is arousing, but that leaves her defenseless and weak, and
probably dead, and you don't want that, now do you?

Anyways, first off, head to each different town.  You may or may not want
to give Celes an Epee.  It'll raise her damage in the front row, lower her
damage the Back Row (if your not using Fight Command, then it doesn't
matter), and gives back the option of Runic (which has a use in a coming
up fight soon, but you'll have better Swords then most likely)  I'd keep
Celes with the White Dress though, the higher Magic Defense and +5 to
Magic Power is better than the minor defense increase from Mithril mail.
Speaking of Mithril Mail, give that to Edgar and Cyan, if your using them,
since unlike other characters, all their armor is just raw defense
upgrades in the beginning (shame too) Mithril Helms don't bother with,
they suck, since Green Beret's have a whopping 1 less defense and give you
more HP (that, and Bard's Hats have higher Magic Defense and +10% M.
Block..., as well as more MP to Celes to play around with).
You might want to give Edgar a Trident too, if you plan on making him a
dragoon.  The Water elemental attack might have a use.  That, or I'm just
being an idealist >_>
Gau and Sabin shouldn't have any equipment changes, though, if you can
steal a few Tiger Masks from Ralphs, you might want to give that to them,
but I personally would stay with Green berets.
Locke should just have a Boomerang (or 2) on, since those > Full Moons in
everyway (They are just upgrades all things considered).  Also, he
probably prefers the Mithril Mail to Ninja Gear, the defense > 2 points of
speed, but if you're a stickler for speed, then keep the Ninja Gear, see
what I care!

After you are done getting all your equipment, do the most unthinkable
thing ever!
Go to Vector *Gasps are heard*

#Vector#

Be smart, and just don't fight the Guardian, nothing changes if you fight
him and run, or something, its not worth wasting 2 minutes of your life.
Now just go to the Magitek Factory.  Before that, though, I suggest giving
Sabin and Gau 2 Earrings/Hero Rings, those will be useful for wiping out
entire battle fields.  If you're not using either, giving 2 Earrings to
Edgar might not be a bad idea to maximize Flash's damage, though I suggest
using a Hero Ring at least for one of those earrings, to boost Chain
Saw/Drill's damage.  Cyan...Atlas Armlet, no questions asked, his only
useful Swordtechs as of now are physical, so the rest is just "Duh"  Celes
should probably equip defensive relics, her damage is probably going to
lag, so she'll be a healer here.  Locke...heh, now he is going to make Celes
look like a Damage Queen here, so, I guess make him defensive too, and
have him randomly throw potions on people, so Celes can help the offensive
a bit.

Anyways, enemies here are weak to lighting.  Well, you can get a Thunder
Blade here, so maybe use that, but don't expect good results, enemies here
have over 200 defense, making physicals look pathetic.   Magic and defense
ignoring attacks are the way to go.  Sabin's Fire Dance will work wonders
here, as will assorted Magical Rages by Gau such as Marshall, Aspik, what
have you.  Cyan just dispatch like crazy (Quadra Slam is going to suck),
or if you want be bold, use Retort, Locke...there really isn't much to use
him for.  Celes can either cast Cure to heal, or Ice to do damage.  Equip
her with an Elemental Weapon (preferably thunder Blade if you were using
Flail, that way, the damage won't change much at all, given the Lighting
Weakness offsets the back Row), so she gets a nice +2 to Magic Power.

Just grab everything you can here.  Shouldn't be different than Normal.
Give Edgar or Cyan the Gold Armor (Celes' White Dress is arguably better),
the Gold Shield can go to any of the 3 Heavy Armor users, Gold Helmet just
let it stay in your inventory and forget its existance.  Break Blade...do
what you want with it, but that's later, so worry not.

Now, for the next boss fight.  Before, just save, heal, what have you, and
move on!

%Ifrit and Shiva%

Alright, first off, Wall Ring is a nice help here, so equip it (If you
bothered to buy more, use those too)  Celes' Runic is handy here, so give
her the Thunder Blade and have her Runic.  Why Thunder Blade?  So Locke
can swap between Blizzard and Flame Sabre to make the most of his damage.
Use Flame Sabre on Shiva, and Blizzard on Ifrit.

Now, for Gau, your thinking "Ok, don't use a Fire or Ice rage, got it"
WRONG! Use a Fire Rage, actually, those will wreck Shiva a lot faster than
you will expect (or use an Ice Rage like Dark Side or Slam Dancer,
probably kills Ifrit fast too, though, Dark Side has fire weakness, so be
warned)

Those two gone, you get yourself more Magicite, yay!  Shame they have no
use besides looking good in your collection of Espers, given the whole
point of the challenge is not using espers at all.  Once your done pining
over the loss of Ifrit and Shiva, I suggest you save, only so in case
something like L5 Doom opening from a random kills your team, or
something...or its just the usual common sense "Save whenever possible"
aspect of RPGs.  I dunno, but...lets continue...

Grab the Break Blade, try to fight a Rhinox in case you want Life3 for
later (and the Thunder absorption could be nice...maybe), since with that
Rage, Gau can use it (no, its not the way to beat Magimaster later in the
WoR either, unfortunately...)  Ready for the next boss?  Good...

%Number 024%

Well, first things first.  He has high defense like most things there, so
use Magic, or Defense ignoring attacks.  Now, Locke has nothing to
contribute in this fight, so yes, he's your utility guy, shove him in the
back row, but try to steal from him, Rune Edge is good 3750 GP or Drainer
is just nice commodity to get early on.  Anyways, since he wall changes,
Non Elemental Magic is helpful, but you lack that.  So have Gau use Aspik
Rage.  Doesn't make sense, since he changes his elemental affinities?
Wait! There's more to this plan! (assuming you have Gau, use Aspik Rage,
obviously, if you don't, that advice is worthless)

Have Celes open with Imp.  Yes, now that he's imped, he can't do anything
but Errors he occasionally gets (I don't understand HOW he uses Ice Rabbit
and Sun Bath as an Imp), and his physical (which Criticals 100% of the
time *hint hint Back Row! Hint hint*) Now Gau can start the blasting</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
rampage.  What if your not using Gau/what to do with the other non Gau
character?  Well, ok, fine, Gau isn't the greatest thing here, just trying
to think of some creative way to make Imp sound more useful here (Still do
it anyway)

Celes should cast Ice, or heal w/ Cure after Imping the bastard.
Edgar should use Chain Saw and/or Drill.  Chain Saw does more damage,
Drill is more reliable, though, any seasoned Edgar fan knows the
difference *rolls eyes*
Sabin should use Suplex or Aura Bolt, depending on what's doing more
damage.  If you didn't Imp him fast enough, and he wall changed to stop
Pearl, then Suplex is a no brainer.  For the record, this is one of the
few bosses where Suplex actually has a use, so don't expect me to say "use
Suplex" much.
Cyan use Dispatch.  Again, Quadra Slam vs. High Defense enemies = Sucks.
Retort is unreliable, and Slash just plain won't work.  Dispatch is the
"duh" option here, especially since it can be used instantly.

Once the guy is beaten...well just continue the game, and save at the next
save point *rolls eyes*

#Mine Cart Sequence#

Fairly easy, really.  You'll probably only fight Purple Mag Roaders here,
but even if you fight Red ones (meaning you have the proper formation),
then good for you, another Rage you can get.

Anyway, the Purple ones are weak to Fire, the Red ones are weak to ice.
Sabin's use here is pretty obvious: FIRE Dance.  That should wipe out the
whole battle field in a single shot.  Locke should switch between Blizzard
and Flame Sabre, depending on what Mad Roager he's fighting.  Giving him
Dragoon Boots will let you keep him in the Back Row w/out hindering his
offense (which is good, considering Locke doesn't have much Offense to
sacrifice as is, hurting it more would just be "...") Edgar...make him go
Drill and/or Chain Saw happy, as usual.  Cyan should use Dispatch, Gau
should use a fire Rage like Vaporite or Templar, or an ice Rage like Slam
Dancer.   Again, not hard.  Now for the boss.

%Number 128%

Alright, shove either Thunder Blade or Flame Sabre on Locke (not Blizzard,
he absorbs it), or heck, Drainer if you have that, as well as Dragoon
Boots, so Locke's damage goes from bad to meh, but meh > bad, especially
when said character has temporary invincibility.  If you have Gau, Aspik
Rage him, since Gigavolt = His Strongest attack, and Catscratch = less
damage from Back Row, and thus, we learn Aspik > Stray Cat, here.  2
Earrings on Gau wouldn't hurt either..  Sabin...Fire Dance I guess til the
arms are killed, and then use Pummel or Aura Bolt.  That way, you are
insured to hit the center, and you take out the Arms while doing some
damage to the mid section to boot.  Edgar should Chain Saw/Drill the Mid
Section, while Cyan should Dispatch or Quadra Slam, if you're bold.  Or,
if you can manage to steal the Tempest from the Mid Section (it's a rare
steal, so your chances of getting it on your first attempt are already
1/8th lower than you'd expect from an enemy who has one item to steal),
have Cyan equip that, and use that.  Not a hard fight, really, just keep
at it, and have Locke or somebody who feels lagging heal (or just whenever
you need it instantly)  Offensive Relics like Atlas Armlet or Hero Rings
are your friends, remember.

After 128 becomes scrap metal, save, and meet Setzer, and guess what, Boys
and Girls? Its time for the...

%Cranes%

First things first, have Gau use a Rage that makes him Float.  That way,
at least one character will be immune to Magnitude 8.  Now, because one
Crane absorbs Fire, that means Sabin should not use Fire dance for his
life, nor should Gau use a Fire Rage (and Sabin should avoid his "Fight"
command with Fire Knuckles too)  Edgar use Chain Saw as usual, or Drill,
whichever you prefer, Cyan attack with Tempest if you have it (it'll
damage both enemies if Wind Slash kicks in, yay!), or Dispatch.  Sabin,
knowing Fire Dance = No, should use Pummel or Aura Bolt, whichever is
stronger, as usual.  Gau...whatever you do, do not use a Fire or Thunder
Rage (the other Crane absorbs Lightning), that'll kill you, possibly.  So
find a good flying Rage that doesn't use Fire, or Lightning (Dark Side w/
Ice2 works, but he's weak to Fire, so you'd been warned, since the cranes
use Fire) is a decent choice.  If you aren't afraid of Magnitude 8, I
suggest Anguiform then, Aqua Rake can do some mean things to both, given
they BOTH are weak to Water.  If you must, you can steal a Debilitator
from one of the Cranes (the one that absorbs Fire, if you must know.  If
you steal a Potion, then you lost your chance, if you steal a NoiseBlaster,
you stole from the wrong Crane!)  What to do with your forced characters,
Setzer and Locke?
Well, Setzer should use his Slots.  His Fight command sucks, and Locke is
even weaker and with higher speed, making Locke better for the sake of
using items on your team *hint hint* All you need is 7 Flush, if you get
something like H-bomb, Great!  7 Flush should suffice, its stronger than
you think.  Chocobop also works too, given they don't float (Fun Fact:
Chocobop is a Meteor clone, only difference is it can't hit flying enemies)

Alright, Cranes beaten, go see Terra's past, get her back, and good for
you, you've gotten possibly your best character in this challenge back,
hurray!

#Narshe#

Alright, stock up on equipment here.  I suggest grabbing Mog, since his
dances in WoB > Gold Hairpin.  That said, things I suggest buying:

Power Sashes for Locke, Sabin, Cyan, and Gau (at least enough for those
you plan to use)
Tiara for Terra, maybe, unless you prefer sticking with the Green Beret or
Bard's Hat
Gold Shield for Terra, Mog, Edgar, Cyan and Setzer (see Power Sash.  You
should have one already though, and keep in mind, you are FORCED to use
Terra in the next part)
Buy a Morning Star (or two if you plan to use Genji Glove) for Terra, a
Hawk Eye (or 2) for Locke, Trident for Mog (Edgar doesn't need one), and
you should be set.  Just make sure you remember to grab some Armor for Mog
(Mithril Vest, unless you plan to give him your only Gold Armor, which
isn't a bad idea, persay.)  Terra should steal Celes' White Dress.

At this point, if you want, go to Thamasa's area, and steal some Gaia
gears, if you please.  These aren't easy to get, necessarily, but still
something to consider

And also UPDATE GAU'S RAGES!  I suggest doing this during your "Mog's Hunt
for dances" time.  Also, you can get 7 of Mog's 8 dances, which I suggest
you do.  Here's where to go for each.  The one you don't get, obviously,
is Snow Man Jazz, the WoR only Dance.
Wind Song: Best get it on the Veldt, No EXP, and you should be going there
anyway
Water Rondo: Serpent Trench.  Lete River takes longer, and it's a lot
closer to the Veldt than the Lete River, meaning you can get to your Air
Ship easier
Forest Suite: Any forest, I'll just say Phantom Forest, smile, nod, and...
*Runs*
Earth Blues: Just get into a fight on the OUTSIDE areas of Mt. Koltz
(inside is considered Cavernous terrain).  Easy enough
Dusk Requim: Mog should have this already, from the "Save Terra!" sequence.
If he by chance doesn't, then go into Narshe Caves, fight, and wala, that
wasn't hard, was it?  What? It's out of the way? Then fight on the INSIDE
of Mt. Koltz, during your trip to get Earth Blues *rolls eyes*
Love Sonata: Haven't beaten the Lobo in that "Monster in the Box" at
Narshe tutorial house yet?  Kill him then.  But chances are you did, but
do not digress, that was just the Easy and pitiful method of doing it.
The real way I was going to suggest is just fight a battle in Zozo with
Mog in your team
Desert Aria: Well, if you want to get it in the Water Rondo run (making
that trip as worthwhile as possible), you can fight in that little Desert
patch where the Imperial Camp use to be near Doma, but if it annoys you
walking in the same 2 squares back and forth, then just go to Figaro
Desert and fight there

Also, during Rage hunting, I advise bringing Terra.  Most characters won't
benefit at all from all this fighting (since on the Veldt, you get no Exp),
however, Terra will.  How so?  Well, you'll notice that when fighting, you
get Magic Points when Terra's in your team, but not otherwise.  You assume
its cause Terra has Magic, right? Then why doesn't Celes get Magic Points
if she's in your team?  Answer?  Its cause Magic Points have a 2nd lesser
known use!  Most people (well, ok, lots of people do now) don't know that
that Magic Points are what Terra's Morph is based off of.  Likewise,
bringing Terra to the Veldt will let her hoard lots and lots of Magic
Points (just to clarify, the type you get after battle, not the same thing
as "MP"), so when you finally think you'll need Morph, she'll have plenty
of time to use it.  And as I said before, besides maybe Mog who is
learning dances (and he only needs one fight per terrain anyway), no one
else will really benefit from these Veldt Fights.

I also recommend using Setzer here if you don't know how to use his Slots
properly.  I know that sounds odd, but it actually makes sense logically.
See, enemies on the Veldt aren't really hard (you've fought all of them
once before, or at least ran from them...), so using weaker characters
shouldn't hurt.  And because of the lack of EXP you get, this would be a
prime place to practice timing on Slots.  Keep using Slots til you're
confident about being able to pull off Chocobop and 7-Flush consistently.
And again, since you don't get EXP here, your not giving Setzer any unfair
level treatment (same goes with Terra) over other characters you might
like, so don't feel like, say, Edgar or Sabin are missing out on useful
time to build up their techniques, since they wouldn't getting much as is
(not to mention leveling Edgar for learning Techniques is a stupid idea,
since you know, you quite literally BUY his Techniques)

Once you think you've gotten all the Rages you need (mind, I suggest
fighting a Chimera in the forest west of Thamasa, so you can get that Rage.
Quite handy, actually, in the next dungeon, basically a better version of
Anguiform, all things considered)
Don't bother getting Golem, Zoneseek and Sraphim, unless you feel like
wasting 33000 GP for 3 useless artifacts...the reason should be obvious.
Wait til the WoR if you want to be a "Completionist" to get them, when
Seraphim's Price gets slashed down by 2990 GP, and you can get the money
needed for Golem and Zoneseek in 3 Fights in the Miranda Desert, should
you desire (2 if you use the Cat Hood)

Alright, now for the Sealed Cave!

#Sealed Cave#

Alright, before you go here, you need to decide which characters to use.
Here are your choices:

Terra: Alright, this one is "Duh" you MUST use her here.  If you don't,
good luck beating the game w/out a character necessary to continue the
plot, given the game won't even let you enter the Sealed Cave w/out her.
So obviously, she's in, whether you like it or not.

Locke: I honestly can't recommend using him.  He brings very little.  His
Hawk Eyes are damaging when thrown, yes, but so are a dozen other attacks
that are not random.  Using 2 sounds good on paper, but keep in mind the
Defense loses, and that they are still random.  Use him if you wish, but
there are far better options

Mog: Great choice if you went on a Dance hunt.  Dusk Requiem is useful
only for Zombone's here (most enemies are Instant Death immune and absorb
Fire, making the dance have limited use there) However, despite the risk
of it Stumbling, Water Rondo is an excellent dance here.  It's most common
attack, El Nino, more or less kills entire battle fields in one use.  And
his Trident Weapon being Water Elemental, paired with Dragoon Boots, can
do some pretty mean things to Ings here (a very common enemy)

Edgar: As usual, a solid choice.  Chain Saw is still great damage, and
Noise Blaster still works well here.

Sabin: He's not bad, but there are better choices.  Nonetheless, lots of
enemies here are Weak to Aura Bolt, so he at least is good at killing
things one on one.  However, lots of Fire Absorbing enemies make Fire
dance less useful.  I'd pick Edgar over him if only cause Edgar can
control his attacks, though, again, not bad.

Cyan: He's not as bad as he might seem at first.  Given even if you don't
have his tempest, he gets it right in early on, which lets him have a
solid MT Attack, even if only 50% of the time.  Dispatch is still passable
at this point, though, again, there are much better choices around than
Cyan, he's still probably a better choice than Locke.

Gau: Great Choice, like Mog.  Anguiform/Chimera Rage's use Aqua Rake which
does a number on the enemies here.  It's not as strong as El Nino (well,
ok, Spell Power wise, its stronger, but it doesn't ignore Split damage),
but shove on 2 Earrings/Hero Rings, and enemies are at least bound to be
reeling in pain.  Should you fight 2 Zombone Battle, have Gau use
something like Templar, Bomb/Grenade, or Overmind (a fire rage, IOWs),
since that will be extremely painful.

Setzer: If you're good at getting 7-Flush and Chocobop, he's another great
choice.  7-Flush MT is like Fire Dance that'll work on all enemies here,
and Single Target, its stronger than Aurabolt (Well, ok, in the Sealed
Cave, it won't be, due to the Holy Weakness, so yeah)  Hard to say if he's
one of the best choices are not, but there really isn't a flaw in using
him.  Now, if your bad at using Slots, then don't even touch him, though
granted, I assume you wouldn't anyway, given those who can't use slots
often deem Setzer as one of the worst characters (or they say Setzer =
Fixed Dice only)

So...choose 1-3 characters to take with Terra (you MUST choose one, mind.
Terra will chicken out if you take her alone, so she at least needs one
ally)
Once you've decided who you want to use (besides Terra, obviously), and
have all the resources you want (Hint: If you want Items, go to Figaro
with Edgar in front, so you can get 2x the items for the same price in
case you've forgotten Edgar's little discount thing), head to the...

#Sealed Cave#
Anyways, first and foremost, do not equip Fire weapons.  Most enemies
absorb it, so you'll just be doing them a favor.  So Sabin should equip a
Kaiser, since most enemies are weak to that, Terra a Morning Star, Break
Blade, or Blizzard/Thunder Blade, Edgar any of those replacing Morning
Star with Trident, Locke a Hawk Eye, and...that's about it for character who
can potentially have fire Weapons.  If you spent time to get Gaia Gears, I
suggest equipping them, enemies here have Life Shaver, that is an earth
attack, and nothing is more fun than watching an enemy have their own
Parasitic Healing turn against them.  Also, equip someone with a Ribbon,
especially if their level is multiple of 3 (yes, Level 3 Muddle is used in
the early parts), since enemies here have things like Imp song.  A Wall
Ring in the first few rooms is useful too, given you don't want to be hit
with Fire 3 (no, that's not a typo, enemies really have that high level
spell) from a Lich
Now, if you bothered to stock up on more Revivifies and/or Fenix Downs
than necessary (I didn't recommend it, since it's generally not practical),
you can kill most enemies just by using it on them.  In fact, the only
enemy here who is not undead is Coelecite, which stop appearing after the
switching bridges room

Anyway, as usual, just grab whatever you can.  Once you get the Atma
weapon, you'd probably be inclined to use it immediately on Terra, Locke
or Edgar.  Don't bother, it's a pretty bad weapon this early on, the way
its algorithms work, and the HP reliance hurts it further (in that it gets
weaker as you get hit, of course, so don't go thinking Green Beret's will
solve Low HP problems, since its not based off Max HP, but your Current HP
relative to your Max).  Save those Magicite you have, you might need them
if you get desperate, you know, as a wild card option, albeit, you should
never get into a situation like that, but they're helpful.
If you plan on fighting the Ninja, hit him with your best Thunder Attacks
(Giga Volt from Aspik Rage, Plasma from some of Mog's Dances, Dragoon
Boots + Thunder Blade, etc.) or your best Holy attacks (Aura Bolt and...Aura
Bolt...and I think that's it for Holy attacks...oh, wait, the Kaiser
weapon!...which is also used by Sabin -_-)  Shouldn't be too hard, just
remember he likes to use Skeans on you, and if unprepared, he can wipe
your whole party out fast.

Now, if you don't have too many Fenix Downs/Revivifies, then you can
always fight them normally.  Mog's water Rondo dance does wonders here, as
does Gau's Anguiform/Chimera Rage.  Sabin's Aura Bolt can be pretty brutal
here, and Edgar's Chain Saw and Noiseblaster are as devastating as usual.
Cyan should be using Tempest, and Locke...well, just have him fight, steal,
whatever, he can't do much anyway.  Setzer should be playing his luck with
slots.  Terra should heal, use her fight command, and cast Fire (Fire2 if
she knows it) on Zomebones (the only enemy who does not absorb fire here)
From time to time, you can cast her Life Spell on the enemies here, and
watch them die in one hit, just remember that it costs a hefty amount of
MP this early on.

It shouldn't be tough, but it can be a bit strenuous.  So just muscle it
out with what you got.  If you prepared properly it shouldn't be hard at
all, especially if you chose a good team (hint: One that doesn't have
Locke)
Oh, and if you do use Locke, for the love of god, DO NOT EQUIP THE
ASSASSIN!  This will make Locke go from Mediocre to USELESS.  Remember,
"X" death Weapons and Undead enemies don't mix...well, ok, they do, but
not in the way you want.  Locke will just end up healing the enemy a
lot more than he would have with a Flame Sabre.  Yes, a Flame Sabre on
Locke is bound to be a better choice, despite the area, than an
Assassin, since at least Flame Sabre Locke can hurt Zombones, Assassin
Locke will keep healing them...

Anyways, get to the end, watch Terra open the gate, give Kefka a nice
love tap (or Nuke him with your strongest attack.  You'll get the same
result either way), walk out of the place (via short cut), you know
what to do.

For the next part, just play it normally.  I suggest having Magical
Attacks and Defense Ignoring ones (Basically, Pummel/Suplex, Dispatch,
and Chain Saw/Drill) since the few fights you'll have in the Banquet
area tend to have high defense.  To get to Vector, its just fastest
using the hidden Chocobo stable in the forest near bye, though, you CAN
walk the entire way if you want to, its just easier using the stupid
bird.  Having a pair of Sprint Shoes is useful as always in the next
part

I have not much to say here, except just at least try and get as much
as the Base open in the west.  The Items there are defiantly the most
useful rewards of anything the Emperor has to offer, the Tintinabar is
nice for Rage hunting I guess, but nothing more really, oh, and you can
get one in Mobliz anyway from the Wounded Soldier.  South Figaro is
always opened, Doma has nothing but "godly" Beads, and a few disposable
items (you can get them in the WoR, anyway), but if you get the Base,
you by definition have Doma opened.  Charm Bangle...its really a wasted
Relic slot, no matter how you look at it.  Lower Encounter Rate for
loss of a relic Slot, hmm...not worth it, if you ask me, mind, it doesn't
mean you shouldn't try and get it, it just means don't feel
disappointed if you miss it.

Anyway, now you are forced to use Terra (yay!) and Locke (Drat.)  Why
do I sound so biased to those two?  Well, Terra is one of the more
useful characters in the challenge, and Locke just downright sucks in
the WoB w/out Magic, all things considered.  Ok, fine, ignore those
statements, just take them.  Equip them with whatever you want, raid
the Base to the east, stock up on whatever you need, etc.  Don't bother
worrying about Shadow, he's in your team for too short a time for you
to even start remotely caring about.  Go see the Setzer scene if you
wish, not that you have to, but...bah, you get the point.

#Thamasa#

Alright, first, buy 4 Gaia Gears, or at least, buy as many as you need
til you have 4 Total.  Why? You'll be thankful you did on the Floating
Continent, that's all I can say.  If you got the Blizzard from 024 and
not a Flame Sabre (Blizzard is the common Drop, so chances are, you got
that), then be happy, it'll be useful in the next area.  If you didn't,
then, oh well, just live with it.

Anyway, get Terra her Mystery Veil, and heck, get another for Relm when
she joins.  There's a good chance Terra will be keeping this Mystery
Veil on the rest of the game, except for the part where she gets
automatically stripped in the WoR, just like everyone else.  Don't
bother buying weapons for the other characters, you can, you know,
always come back afterwords.  Don't bother buying any Rods too.  You
should already have the Thunder Rod from before (unless you decided to
Break it against one of the Cranes, not that its needed), and you will
get an Ice Rod and Fire Rod in the next place (Burning House) And don't
bother buying Gold Armor either, at least not yet.  Why?
Follow this Equation:
Characters who can use Gold Armor: Terra, Mog, Edgar, Setzer, Celes and
Cyan
Characters in your team right now: Terra, Shadow Locke
Characters going to be in your team before you can Change: Strago and
Relm
Characters that fall into Category 1 and either Category 2 or 3: Terra
How Many Gold Armors you should have at this moment: One from the
Magitek Factory
How many people Terra is: She is one person
So...yeah, do the math >_>

Same applies for the Gold Shield.  I'm not going through that equation
again, so figure it yourself, damn it! (Hint hint: Terra is the only
one who can use it and you should already have one.  Mind, this is
assuming you didn't buy any at Narshe anyway)

Finished your money Binge?  Good, now grab all of Shadow's stuff, since
he's just going to leave soon, and I can't remember if the game is so
nice enough as to strip him automatically.  Now go talk to the old fart,
Strago, grab the Memento Ring upstairs, only cause its nice to have
another item that protects against Instant Death.  Why?  Oh do shut up.
Alright, fine, if you feel Shadow must go with at least SOMETHING, give
him that Memento Ring, only cause...fine, I'll give you another equation:
Memento Rings you have: 1
Memento Rings you will Have later: 2
Characters who can use Memento Rings: Shadow and Relm
Characters who come with memento Ring on: Relm

Pretty obvious reason again.  Now please stop asking so many questions,
you hypothetical reader ;_;

Now, to the Burning House

#Burning House#

First things first, equip Terra with a Blizzard, Locke should probably
stay with Hawk eyes, since Balloons Float, and that means Massive
damage when said item is thrown.  Strago just should spam Aqua Rake,
just keep watch of your MP.  Just do not miss Ice Rod and Fire Rod.
Now, you can give the Ice Rod to Strago, if you please, if you want to
save MP anyway, that will make him a physical Power house! ...at least if
he's in the Front Row anyway (and he probably won't be), and he'll be
weaker than Terra or Locke with a Blizzard in the Front Row anyway, so
bah, forget I said anything about being a Physical Powerhouse

%Flame Eater%

Alright, there are 2 Ways to do this.  The Cheap Nasty way, or the
Honorable way.  I'll be mean and tell you the honorable way first.

Honorable Method: Alright, you don't have Ice2 like normal, since you
can't use Shiva, Celes is busy questioning herself, and Gau is annoying
Sabin and Cyan, most likely.  So, you'll have to compensate somehow.
First off, give Terra the Genji Glove, and 2 Blizzards.  This will make
her physical do quite painful things to the guy.  Also, place her in
the front Row.  Now, give her an Atlas Armlet, or better yet, a Hero
Ring (in case the random Ice spells kick in)  Now, with that, Terra
could easily dish out close to 1500 damage a turn with that set up,
assuming your around level 20 anyway.  But wait, there's more!  Have
Terra Morph, and now she almost reaches 3000 (more if Ice gets cast
during one of those smacks, and even more if she criticals)  The poor
Guy has only 8500 HP, mind you, so you can potentially kill him in only
3 turns.  Now, have Locke smack him with Hawk Eyes, or use Potions for
Healing.  Have Strago either whack the guy with the Ice Rod (or if you
did bother buy others, 2), or cast Aqua Rake to kill off his Balloon
allies.   A few Aqua Rakes, Hawk Eye smacks or throws, and several
massive Blizzard smackings from the nude pink sprite that is Terra, and
Flame Eater should die.

Ok, that sounded mean, and your wondering how that's the "Honorable"
way?  Well, compared to the dishonorable way, you'll think it's
definitely the right way to do things *Rolls eyes*

Cheap Nasty way:  Alright, equip Terra with Mystery Veil (+3 to Magic
Power), or Magus Hat if you're a perfectionist (+5 to Magic Power),
White Dress (+5), Blizzard/Flame Sabre/thunder Blade (all have +2), and
2 Earrings/Hero Rings. Terra's Magic Power should be 49 now (51 if you
use the Magus Hat) Now, unequip that one Ice Rod you found from Strago.
Start the battle by having Strago cast Aqua Rake, killing his allies.
Now that the guys alone, have Terra use Morph, and break the Ice Rod on
the bastard.  The damage, assuming your level 20 and did all of the
above, will hit 9999, and guy WILL die.  How is this legal?  I said you
can break Rods found in chests, right?  Well, that one Ice Rod you
found in a chest.  This is the only Ice Rod you are allowed to break.
Anyway, so yeah, anybody who says Sabin is the first character to hit
9999 is wrong, since Terra just did it a lot earlier than he did :P

See how the first way is a lot nicer than the bottom one?  At least the
first one, you let the guy live long enough to tell you his name (if he
could speak anyway)

Well, you beat Flame Eater, and now you go to the Esper Mountain!  Wait,
why didn't I bring up Exploder before?  Simple Reason:
EXPLODER IS THE WORST LORE IN EXISTANCE AND ISN'T WORTH THE TIME
LEARNING!!!
I mean, seriously, Strago can do better damage already with Aqua Rake
in the right Set Up, you think you'd rather kill the guy with a move
that is weaker or something?  You need to rethink your strategies...

#Esper Mountain#

Not much to say here.  Just know that Abolishers, as long as they are
not alone, use Pearl Wind on their 3rd turn, so just wait for them to go
3 turns, and then kill them.  Pearl Wind will be a valuable asset, so
getting it this early (and this easily) helps.  Besides that, just play
til you fight...

%Ultros 3rd%

Ah, good old Octopus.  Anyway, the guy is weak to fire, so use a
similar Flame Sabre strategy on this guy as you did with Blizzards on
Flame Eater.  I suggest Locke acts as utilities too, and if you have
Pearl Wind, it wll help immensely.  You can try to just cheese it the
same way by breaking the Fire Rod on him, but if you don't plan on
doing that, equip Strago with that Fire Rod, and let him join the
smacking.  Ultros is also weak to Lightning, so you can give Terra or
Locke Thunder Blades instead of Flame Sabres if you wish, doesn't
matter.  I don't suggest Breaking the Thunder Rod on Ultros though, it
might be useful in fights later (like Air Force), unlike the Fire Rod.
However, having Strago bash the guy with Thunder Rod is perfectly fine,
since you won't lose the item.
When Relm comes, just sketch him, and you win!  Hurrah!
Mind, if the Relm Sketch glitch occurs here...well, then that just sucks,
you by the code of honor, are to reset your game, and beat him again,
unless you are absolutely sure are going to not to abuse it (that
includes selling off all the random stuff you got.  Mind, if you don't
mind selling all your stuff you SHOULDN'T have (like having Excalibur
at that point is bad, VERY bad), buying a lot more stuff, selling that,
rince lather repeat til you've sold all the stuff you bought with that
money, and your money is somewhere around the range of what you had,
then by all means do so)...yeah, you get the point.  It shouldn't happen,
but I'm just letting you know (I myself have been hit with the bug at
this exact time several points on my cart...)

Now just continue on as normal, watch the plot scenes, beat Kefka with
ubered Leo, yada yada yada.  Now for more Preparations!

First off, I'd keep White Dresses in your inventory for Terra and Celes.
The +5 to magic Power might come in handy at times, especially for your
two characters who have the Magic Command.  Buy the same stuff for
Celes that you did for Terra, for the shear fact that, well, equipment
wise, they are identical (unless you think the Cotton Robe matters...) If
you plan on using Terra, then prepare for Celes ESPECIALLY since she's
forced into your team at one point (if you don't plan on using Terra,
then just de-equip her, and give that to Celes for when she joins)
Locke should have been already taken care of back in Thamasa.  Same
goes for Strago too, probably.  If you didn't for Relm...well, buy her a
Mystery Veil, and the same stuff you did for Strago otherwise (don't
bother with the White Dress, she can't make any decent use of it)
Now, for the characters who weren't in your party:
Well, don't bother buying a Stout spear for Edgar.  Chain Saw probably
still does more damage, and doesn't take a turn or a Relic slot.  He
should have a Gold Armor (mind, Terra, Celes, and Mog should have Gaia
Gears on, that will be more useful than Gold Armor in the next area),
Gold Shield, and Green Beret (or Bard's Hat)
Mog...well, buy him a Stout Spear if you plan to use his Physical (Which
implies give him Dragoon Boots too, since you'll be greatly
disappointed otherwise) Gaia Gear is better than Gold Armor, in the
next area, Gold Shield is just "duh" and Green Beret vs. Bard's Hat
comes down to preference, while the Gold Helmet just plain sucks
Sabin...get him Gaia Gear if he doesn't have one already.  Tiger Mask you
may or may not want, depends, I'd say "nay" though, and give him the
generic Male head gears of Green Beret or Bard's Hat.  Same applies for
Gau too.
Setzer...basically, see Mog, and don't bother buying him Darts.  His
Physical will suck regardless in the WoB.
For Shadow, buy him all the same Armor you did for Sabin, nixing the
potential possibility of the Tiger Mask, which he can't use.  Mind,
prepare for Shadow especially, since he is more or less guaranteed to
be in your party (unless you want to do a 3 person party on the FC,
which isn't recommended...)  Mind, don't bother with a weapon, Shadow
probably wants the Assassin (Stat Boosts, and random instant death), or
a Thief Knife (Boost to M. Block and speed), and he will most likely be
doing nothing but throwing kitchen sinks at people anyway, since it
does far more damage than his physical does, and ignores Back Row
damage penalty to boot.
Cyan should have more or less what Edgar has, but maybe a Power Sash
instead of a Gold Armor, your call.

Alright, got all the equipment you need?  Now, stock up on throw
ammunition.  First off, buy 99 shurikens.  They are so cheap, getting
99 is extremely easy (Fun Fact: If you don't use Edgar in Figaro, 99
Shurikens costs less than the Drill, and they are generally stronger to
boot)  Buy some skeans as well, those will be doing some pretty
sickening Multi Target damage, especially if you apply Weakness (they
do damage equal to a level 2.5 spell (stronger than a level 2, weaker
than a level 3, basically), more or less)  Also, while your at it,
stock up on some Blossoms and Tridents, since there is no Wind or Water
elemental weapons in the WoR that can be bought (well there are Water
Skeans, but Tridents do more damage...)  Getting a few Shadow and/or
Invis Edges can't hurt too.  Oh, and Poison Rods you might want a few
of as well, since you can't buy any poison weapons (Well, Throwable
ones) in the WoR either, though, there aren't many enemies that are
weak to Poison.
Done getting that entire throwing Munition? Good.  Make sure you go to
all the places you can't visit in the WoR, so that you know you have
everything.  You probably don't have to do this, but you get the point.

Now, make one last trip to the Veldt.  Bring Gau, for obvious reasons,
Terra for reasons I explained above earlier about Morph, and this time,
Relm and Strago.  Why?  Well, Veldt is always a good place for Strago
to learn Lores, and Relm is always a good character to use to help get
him more Lores.

Should you really want to build up Terra's Morph, then go fight
Intangrs, bring Gau with you and use Rhodox Rage, and DO NOT HAVE A
CURE RING!  Just trust me on this, Cure Ring = Bad, when it comes to
using Snare/X-zone/"Dice" attacks (not the weapon, I mean when the
enemy splits in two, ala Odin)/etc. on enemies with Final Attacks.
Once you're satisfied Terra has enough Morph power to build up this
method, then go.  Granted, you shouldn't need to do this, but there are
those who are paranoid, and thus, they want to do things as fast as
possible, or get Morph to last as long as possible...

Anyway, now which 3 characters to use?  Mind you, even if you WANT to
use less than 3, the game requires you to use 3.  Of course, the game
doesn't stop you from arbitrarily killing an ally if you want to have
less, for god knows what reason...
So, let's see whose good, who is not, and who you just want to kill.
Let's do this the same way as the Sealed Cave...

Terra: Let's1 see.  She has Magic, and should she have reached level 22,
she will know Fire2, which means bad things for the enemies.  Mystery
Veil is probably the best Helmet in the WoB, and she has that.  Having
Gaia Gear is always something to check for in the WoB, and that she has
as well.  Oh, and then there's Morph, making her an excellent Boss
fighter.  That Draw of Elemental Weapons (Blizzard, Flame Sabre, and
Thunder Blade), especially if paired with Dragoon Boots, makes her a
good fighter as well as a mage.  Oh, and she can use the Gold Shield as
well (best WoB shield)  I think its clear Terra is a very good choice
for the Floating Continent, especially considering nearly every enemy
is weak to one of the Big 3, and a lot of them don't like Fire (Terra's
main damage)  Lets not forget that Drain makes her a pain to kill as
well.

Locke: Alright, really, the only thing he has going for him is, to be
honest, Hawk Eyes.  High Speed isn't much of an advantage, all things
considered how FF6 AI works, that, and besides Genji Gloves (and Shadow
can steal anyway.)  Those elemental weapons can be used by Terra, Celes,
and Edgar, 3 characters who have other things going for them, and
Strago has his own supplements as well as his Lores (not to mention
Relm does too...).  Honestly...again, Locke will be lagging on the FC, and
unless you REALLY want to use him, I can't recommend him, since there
are far better options available.  To be fair, he does have access to
Gaia gear, which is a nice piece of armor for the FC, but then again,
so does every other non Edgar or Cyan character.

Mog: Now, again, Mog lucked out on the Conditions.  Wind Song is just a
phenomenal dance for the IAF Sequence, especially since it's the home
terrain.  Then Earth Blues just kicks ass in general, also being the
home dance of Floating Continent.  Spears w/ Dragoon Boots make him
solid at physical damage, and believe it or not, he has best Defense
Potential too, albeit not by as much as he will have in the WoR once
Snow Muffler is available.  Anyway, both dances have healing, and both
dances do brutal damage, and to top it off, Mog has Gaia Gear as well.
This makes Mog a prime choice for the next part of the game.

Edgar: Chain Saw and Drill are still strong attacks, though, with Terra
getting Fire2 and Celes getting Ice2, as well as Strago coming with
Aqua Rake and Gau having his rages, and such, its not as amazing as it
was when you first got it.  Though, its still free, and can be targeted.
Edgar also has 2nd best Defense (only to Mog) in the WoB, another plus,
but lacks the magic Defense, especially since he can't use Gaia Gear,
which kind of hurts him.  Not a bad choice, but not the best either.
Basically, Edgar will be one of those "no Penalty in using, but no
exact reason to use either" characters...

Sabin: As usual, a prime source of Offense, the lack of Gold Shield
makes his defense lower than you'd want, but not too bad.  Solid source
of damage as normal, Sabin's a good choice for the FC.  Sure, not the
best, but defiantly nothing close to a bad one either.

Cyan: Well, Cyan has...the Tempest (maybe 2), and...that's about all he has.
Edgar matches him in just about every other way, and out does him in
some senses (attacks go off insantly, able to target his enemies, etc.)
He is decent for the IAF scene in theory, but Gau and Mog can do what
he can, and better (namely Wind Slash) for that part.

Gau: Not much to say about Gau, besides the fact that he just plain
kicks ass.  If you're keeping your rages up to date, then Gau should
kick ass.  If you are lazy and have not been getting any good rages,
then Gau will just plain suck.  So...yeah, depends on how you've been
treating Gau.  Assuming you HAVE kept up on your Rages, Gau is a GREAT
choice here.  Personally, I'd choose between him or Mog, since having 2
Uncontrollable characters can be messy, but don't underestimate him
nonetheless.

Celes: Well, one thing about Celes is that while getting Terra to learn
Fire2 is easy, Celes doesn't learn Ice2 til 4 levels later (ew...), so
her Offense is probably lower than you want, though, she can always be
used Physically, but then again, so could Terra, Edgar and Locke.
Really, no matter how you look at it for Celes, she ends up being a
weaker Terra, and unlike Celes, using Terra has no penalty.  What's the
penalty of using Celes? No 4th Character for the escape from the FC.
Granted, its easy enough to escape with 3, but keep in mind your
offenses aren't as high as you'd expect in a normal game (Not everyone
has Fire/Bolt2 for Naughties), so you might want to have that extra
body there to dish out damage.  Sorry to say this, Celes, but as usual,
you're stuck in Terra's shadow.  Why do I keep comparing her to Terra?
Well, her equipment is the same, as is her skillset very similar.  Heck,
the only real advantages she has is Imp (limited Use) and Safe (also
not as useful as you'd want)

Setzer: If you've learned to use his Slots effectively, he'll basically
be similar to Sabin for Multi Target damage, and generally BETTER for
Single Target damage (7-Flush > Aura Bolt), and if you can somehow use
H-bomb consistently (might need to rig slots a bit, not going to get
into that), then you've basically got yourself a level 3 Spell being
used every turn (mind, that's harder than you think)  The good options
of equipment are nice too (namely Gaia Gear, and Gold Shield)
Obviously a good choice if you can use his Slots.  If you can't...let him
sit on the Airship and play poker with the likes of Locke and Relm.

Strago: Lores are a good source of damage, and Pearl Wind is an
excellent source of healing, as long as his HP is high enough anyway of
course.  Just know that some of his skills are a bit expensive.  His
elemental rods make his physical damage better than you expect, since
the FC has lots of enemies weak to the Big 3 elements (and every enemy
in the IAF sequence except for Ultros and Chupon are weak to Thunder to
boot), especially with the Random level 2's kicking in.  Obviously, a
good choice.  Someone you should at least consider bringing.

Relm: ...alright, lets think about this logically.  She can use all the
weapons Strago can (and the crappy Chocobo Brush), and armor wise, the
only advantage she has is the White Dress, which its applications are
useless in this challenge for Relm (+5 to Magic Power for a character
without any Magic Power based attacks!), and the Mystery Veil which is
similar situation (though, less useless, since its still good
defensivly).  A Mage without magic, tell me how useful she's going to
be?  That's right, she's going to be extremely bad, easily the worst
choice here (well, no, actually, if you average the damage out with her
random spell castings, she ends up doing MORE than Locke on Average,
but lets not get into that) So yeah...Relm isn't going to much use, and
only use her if you really really REALLY like her, and can't go on
without using her for some odd reason.

Chosen your 3?  Good, again, I'm going to assume you chose all of them,
so I can just give strategies for every situation >.>

#IAF Battle Sequence#

Fairly simple.  Sky Armors and Spit Fires are all you fight here, as
normal, and both have weaknesses to Lightning and Wind.  So...unload with
Thunder Blade Smackings (or use Jump), Wind Slash via Wind Song,
Tempest (the weapon), or Marshall Rage, Aqua Rakes, what have you.
Since they both Fly, Locke's Hawk Eye's when thrown do some pretty high
damage too.  Edgar's Chain Saw, as usual, is a solid form of damage, as
is Setzer's 7-Flush, if you're using either one.  This should go
without saying, but heal when necessary, preferably between fights.
After a few fights, be prepared to fight...

%Ulros 4 and Chupon%

Utterly Pathetic, really.  Terra Morphed with the same Magic Set up as
against Flame Eater can dish out over 8000 against Ultros with Fire 2,
killing him in 2 hits (providing someone else actually did some damage)
Chupon is weak to ice, so smack him with the Blizzard Sword (don't have
to genji Glove it)  Mind, that's assuming you have Terra.  For other
characters, Edgar just use Chain Saw/Drill, as usual.  Sabin should use
his physical, not Blitzes, on Ultros, for optimal damage (his Defense
is complete crap, and he's weak to Fire), then use Aura Bolt or Pummel
(whatever is stronger) on Chupon.  Relm should attack Ultros with a
Flame Rod (Genji Glove it if you wish), and then Swap to Ice Rod with
Chupon (though, God only knows why your using Relm)  Strago should also
open with Flame Rod smackings on Ultros, but Chupon you can nuke with
Aqua Rake, since he's weak to Water as well as Ice.  Celes...Flame Sabre
on Ultros, swap to Blizzard on Chupon (or if she knows it, cast Ice2)
Cyan should just use Dispatch or Quadra Slam, whatever your more
comfortable with.  Mog w/ Wind Song will provide great healing, though,
the damage might seem a bit lacking.  Locke should hit Ultros with
Flame Sabre, then either Blizzard or Hawk Eye on Chupon (he's weak to
Ice and flies, so either one works well, Hawk Eye might be better for
Back Row compatability.)  Setzer just unloads with his slots, Gau use
whatever Rage you want, just avoid a Water Rage (That heals Ultros), or
a Fire Rage (that'll heal Chupon), so Stray Cat or Aspik are good
choices. Oh, and even though you have a boss fight next, just go all
out, at least MP wise, for Terra, Celes, and Strago (items you still
have to worry about), since in the next fight, somehow, Chupon's
"Sneeze of DOOM!!!" fully heals your team as if they just slept at an
inn.
Just note that before hand, you might not want to Morph Terra.  Why?
Morphing Terra now against this scrub boss fight will mean less time of
Morph against the next formidable boss, whom you'd rather use Morph for.
So...only use Morph if you really really need to, despite how I mentioned
it earlier being stupidly powerful...

%Air Force, Laser Gun, and Missile Bay%

Two ways to go about this.  Kill off the Laser Gun or Missile Bay,
taking out one side (which he will not recover), or both, and then
being able to focus on he himself with Minimal healing.  Doing this is
good, just remember he'll start nuking you with Wave Cannon, which
hurts.  The other is to just try and destroy the Air Force himself ASAP.

First off, if you still have that Thunder Rod from the South Figaro
Cave (ones bought in Thamasa don't count) this is probably the best
place to use it.  If you have Terra, having her Morph and using that
will do some pretty nasty things, given the whole Rod deal and all.
Its not necessary, but it works.  Though, keep in mind that because
there are multiple parts, the damage will be half its potential, so
don't expect 9999 (also, doing this probably kills one, or both of the
other parts)  Don't have the Thunder Rod (or after using it), have
Terra smack the guy with the thunder Blade, preferably morphed.  Mog
should use Wind Song, for healing and damage, and Plasma also is
lightning which is his weakness.  Gau should use Aspik Rage, since Giga
Volt vs. a Lightning Weak Monster = Lots of pain.  Sabin you can either
play it by luck using Single Target Blitzes, hoping it hits the right
Target, or using Fire Dance just to hit everything (or if you are
somehow leveled up this high, use Air Blade, which is better in either
situation)  Edgar should use Chain Saw and/or Drill on the desired Body
Part.  Locke attack with Hawk Eyes or Thunder Blade, Celes should also
use Thunder Blade, and Relm should use a Thunder Rod (as a WEAPON! NOT
AN ITEM!)  Strago cast Aqua Rake, since the guy is weak to Water, and
Aqua Rake is water elemental.   Setzer just use 7 Flush, as always.
Cyan probably should use Tempest, and hope the Wind Slash kicks in more
often than not, or use Dispatch/Quadra Slam, and hope the desired part
is hit.  This fight won't be an easy one (obviously, heal when
necessary), but its far from insanely hard either, just muscle it out
with your healing (Strago's Pearl Wind will be useful, if your high
enough leveled, so will Terra's Cure2)

Once Air Force is beaten, your on the Floating Continent, yeah!

#Floating Continent#

First things first.  GRAB SHADOW AND SAVE!  Done that? Good.  Now equip
Shadow, so he can live and be useful since a dead Shadow won't prove to
be very much help.  Now, enemies here are mostly weak to one of the big
3 Elements, so try to apply that damage in some manner.  I won't go
through each character separately, but just basically know that Gaia
Gears are your friends (Life Shaver can be annoying, might as well turn
it into healing), Brainpans are weak to Fire and Thunder, and the
Gigantos is pure physical and weak to Poison (Hint: Invis Edge)  Oh,
Behemoths are vulnerable to instant Death (Hint: Assassin or Chain Saw)
And don't forget the Earth Blues is the main dance here.  And finally,
you can't run from Ninja fights, so always be fully healed in case you
fight 2, who like to throw their Skeans at you.  Its easy to kill those
Ninjas, just smack them with Holy attacks (Aura Bolt) or Thunder
attacks (Bolt Edge, Thunder Blade, Giga Volt from Aspik Rage, or
Thunder Rod), and they'll die fast.

%Atma Weapon%

You think this guy is going to be really hard, right, given how much of
a pain he is in SCCs?  Well, not really, since a few of his main evils
in SCCs aren't so bad here.  First off, Flare Star does damage based
off your levels, yes, but it also does damage based on how many targets
it hits.  With one character, they die if Hit, hence why its so painful
in an SCC.  Against 4, they take 1/4th the damage one person would take,
which is now cleanly survivable.
Anyway, first off, Shadow w/ Memento Ring and Ribbon is almost totally
immune to Mind Blast (his big evil).  Relm can use a similar set up too
(if there is another Ribbon to be found, anyway), but chances are you
are not using Relm.  Gau's Ing Rage is very much a bane on Atma Weapon
completely, I won't explain why, just know it's a great Rage here (JUST
AVOID USING HEALING SPELLS! If you must heal him, attack him with the
Assassin, or use a Fire attack on him (he's an undead that absorbs Fire,
do the math)) Mog using Earth Blues is a good idea, unless he likes to
use Sonic Boom consistently (otherwise, Land Slide is his best damage
(sans the rare as hell Wombat used from Forest Suite), and he
occasionally uses Sun Bath) Terra...you can Morph if you want to, you
don't need to.  Drain will keep her alive, and Fire2 will be her main
source of damage.  Celes should cast Ice2, and maybe cast Cure every
now and then the allies.  Sabin use Aura Bolt (or Air Blade if you have
leveled up enough), Locke attack with Hawk Eyes, Edgar his Chain Saw,
and Cyan use Quadra Slam or Dispatch.  Setzer use 7 Flush, Relm use her
any of the elemental Rods (preferably Ice Rod, since Ice2 is SLIGHTLY
stronger than Fire2 or Bolt2), and Strago use Step Mine (if you don't
have that, cast Aqua Rake)  Shadow should just throw whatever he feels,
doesn't matter.  If you can avoid Mind Blast (easily the most damaging
move he has), and keep your HP up and damage him a lot, Atma Weapon
will fall.  Wait? How to deal with Quake?  Ah, if you were wise, you'd
have kept Gaia Gear on those who can use it.
Oh, Wall Rings might prove useful in this fight too, so use those if
you wish, its not needed, but it can help.

Alright, with Atma Weapon gone, now just prepare for the "Escape the
Floating Continent" scene.  Basically, get your best Fire, Lightning
and Pearl attacks ready, since Naughties are weak to that.  Terra and
Celes (the latter of whom your guaranteed to have soon anyway) should
have White Dresses to optimize their offense.  Locke can keep his Hawk
Eye, since those Naughties Float.  GP Rain actually will do some good
damage here, so have Setzer equip a Coin Toss.

#Escape from the Floating Continent#

I'll go with this character by character, since its easier that way,
but first, starting with Celes, since your guaranteed to have her:

Celes: Smack him with Thunder Blade or Flame Saber.  Either works, just
choose one, or heck, choose both with Genji Glove if you must.  If you
fear the guys offense, cast Imp on them, to stop them from using
annoying moves like Cold Dust or Blizzard, which waste more time.

Now, for the others you are not guaranteed to have...

Terra: Fire2.  This should be a no brainer.  2 Earrings/Hero Rings are
a good idea too

Locke: Flame Saber, Thunder Blade, or Hawk Eye.  Any of those work,
just CHOOSE ONE! If your using the former two, use Front Row, or
Dragoon Boots, so your damage doesn't get nerfed (Hawk Eye, do NOT</pre><pre id="faqspan-3">
equip Dragoon Boots.  You want that 3x damage vs. Flying enemies) Genji
Glove over dragoon boots isn't a bad idea either.

Mog: Earth Blues, hope for Land Slides, no other comments otherwise

Edgar: Chain Saw or Drill, whatever you feel more confident with.
Should be obvious

Sabin: Aura Bolts, or Genji Glove w/ Fire Knuckles + Kaiser, to do your
best damage.

Cyan: Dispatch, or if you feel bold, Quadra Slam.  Do not attack with
Tempest, the *****es are immune to wind.

Gau: Use Aspik Rage, get lots of Giga Volts, watch them die...

Setzer: GP Rain has a use, so take advantage of that! Bwahahaha! ...what?
I can't laugh at how a normally worthless attack actually has use?  Bah,
you're no fun.

Strago: Step Mine, Fire Rod/Thunder Rod smackings, whatever.  Just do
NOT USE AQUA RAKE!  Those *****es are immune to BOTH elements (though,
they need only be immune to one >_>), making you look like an idiot
doing 0 damage to them.  Whee, wasn't that fun?

Relm: Thunder Rod or Fire Rod.  Relm doesn't have many options, so its
not hard to figure out what to do with her -_-  Just hope the Level 2
spell kicks in...

Well, now you should wait for Shadow.  Why should you wait for Shadow?
Oh come on, you DID NOT JUST ASK THAT!  Fine, I'll give you a few
reasons:
A. Your being a nice guy, and don't want Shadow to die, which leaving
now insures he will
B. Shadow is useful in the WoR, you want to make use of him.  A dead
Shadow is not useful, a living one is useful.  Waiting makes Shadow
Live, leaving makes Shadow die.  I think its obvious
C. Shadow is just too uber l337 c00l pwnage and lokos so bad @$$ cause
he's a ninja, w007!!1!1!
D. You don't want to be forced to use Umaro OR Relm in the Final Level
as your 12th character.  Shadow will insure that you won't have to.
Trust me on this.  Even if you like Relm, she WILL suck by the end of
the game in this setting.

...ok, Ignore C, but A, B, and D are all good reasons to wait for Shadow,
especially B.  Just wait for Shadow, you'll be thankful you did.

Watch the world blow up, and thus, it's the end of the World!  Yeah!
Go have a snack or something, I dunno.

*World of Ruins*

#Solitary Island#

Not much to say here, kill Cid, or save him, either way doesn't change
a darn thing besides what plot scene happens, and whether or not you
can meet Cid and here is useless "Thank you Celes" Dialogue scene.  I'd
go with killing him, only cause it's the faster route, and faster = you
get back to the actual game sooner.

Now, after leaving the Solitary Island, MAKE SURE YOU EQUIP CELES!
Somehow, falling off the floating continent stripped her completely
naked, and gave her the equipment of all her allies as well.  Don't you
just love RPG logic?  Equip Celes however you see fit, shouldn't matter
all that much, mind.  I recommend against using Atma Weapon though.  If
Celes is level 26, she'll know Ice2 (given she is automatically raised
to cast Average, there's a good chance she'll be that high)

Albrook has nothing worth your time, so go straight to Tzen.  Why?
Sabin is there, Sabin is another ally, 2 characters is better than 1,
unless you want more EXP faster.

#Tzen#

Alright, first off, equip Ribbon to defend against status attacks used
in the house (well, I think only Stone is there, but Ribbon is just
being safe), Equip Sprint shoes to run faster, equip White Dress,
Mystery Veil and a Blizzard/Flame Sabre/Thunder Blade (or if you
bothered to go out of your way all the way to Nikeah and upgrade Celes'
equipment, then the Enhancer), that way, Celes' damage is optimized
(you want to do things As Quickly as possible, which means you want to
KILL KILL KILL! Priority over outlasting enemy strategy)
There are several enemies weak to Ice, which is good for Celes, since
that's her prime element (it's pretty obvious they wanted you to do
this now.)  Mind, don't be afraid to run if battles are kicking Celes'
ass.  Try and grab as many items in the house as well

Got Sabin? Hurray!  Now equip him, buy 2 Poison Knuckles (you'll see
why later), and head to Mobliz, which is just a boss fight, so...

%Phunbaba%

Alright first off, have Terra kill herself, just to speed the game up,
since its faster then letting him pound on her.  That said...

Equip Celes and Sabin with Wall Rings, those will protect against his
lightning attacks.  Genji Glove on Sabin w/ 2 Poison Knuckles should be
nightmarish for the Poison weak enemy, especially if the random Poison
castings kick in.  Don't got Wall Rings?  Well, just use a strategy of
"Celes uses Runic, Sabin does everything else" Sound familiar?  That's
the generic strategy used on TunnelArmr, having more or less the same
applications here.  Oh, just beware of Blow Fish, so keep HP above 1000,
otherwise, it WILL kill one of them, though, Fenix Down will fix that,
it's just better if you can survive the attack.  What should Celes do
if you DO have Wall Ring? Attack him with whatever she has...as long as
its NOT the Thunder Blade (he absorbs lightning)  Mind, I'm probably
making this fight sound harder than it is, so keep in mind, it's a
fairly easy fight.

Good job, you got Fenrir, which is useless!  Mind, your beating
Phunbaba here is not worthless, since you want to get Terra back later
(Trust me, you do), and to get her back ASAP, you need to do this
sequence ASAP, so yeah, don't think you just wasted your time.

Alright, to speed things up, go the forest south of Mobliz, find the
Chocobo Stable there, use it to go to Nikeah, since walking across the
entire Serpant Trench is long, boring, and not rewarding (unless you
need the money)

#Nikeah#
Don't bother buying anything here.  Whatever you can get here will be
available in South Figaro, which you are coming too next.  It's a good
idea to make sure you have 2 pairs of Running Shoes (you should too,
given you find 2 in the WoB in chests (one in South Figaro, one in
Zozo)) So just talk to Gerad, jump on the ship and, you're off too...

#South Figaro#

Alright, NOW upgrade on equipment.  Now, you have only Celes and Sabin,
right, so only upgrade equip with those two in mind, right? WRONG!  See,
you also want to keep Edgar in mind, since he joins in the beginning of
the fight, and the game is nice enough to use "Optimum" on Edgar, so he
starts the fight with weapons and armor (Shame no Relics though)
So, let's go character by character, kind of a check list:

Celes: Enhancer.  This *IS* her best weapon until you get
Ragnarok/Illumina, thanks to +7 to Magic Power, and +20% to M. block,
though, it sucks on fight damage (by end game), but that's not why you
use the Enhancer.  Buy a Diamond Shield, which is just and upgrade from
the Gold Shield.  Diamond Helm sucks.  Why?  Equipping Diamond Helm
over Mystery Veil (best WoB helmet for the girls) yields 3 more points
of defense, which sounds nice, right?  No, cause its hardly noticeable,
and when you consider you lose 8 points of magic Defense, 3 points of
Magic power, 1 point of speed (Well, you can ignore this one), and a
whole 10% M. Block.  Pretty bad Trade Off, if you ask me.  Diamond
Armor should be bought for Celes as well. Finally, a raw defense Armor
is worth using!  Diamond Armor's jump in defense increases is quite
noticeable over Gaia Gear, and they are quite big a jump compared to
White dress too.  I suggest keeping that Gaia Gear (unless you have
more than 4), since its still got some situational use (Read: Dirt
Dragon), but sell the White Dress, reasons being you want the money,
the defense loss is too much for a trade off of 5 points of Magic Power
(compared to the WoB equipment, where the defenses were only marginally
different), and Celes can get a really kick ass Armor soon, which
renders the White Dress COMPLETELY useless (well, Diamond Armor also
becomes useless too, for that matter, but it has Short Term use
applications) What armor is that?  You'll just have to wait, yes, I'm
an evil bastard

Sabin: Seeing as the only equipment upgrade he can get here is Diamond
Vest, I suggest getting that.  Better than Gaia Gear in everyway,
besides the lack of Earth absorption.  No real comment otherwise.

Edgar Preparations: Alright, first off, excluding Atma Weapon and
Drainer (ignored in the Optimum Command), try to make it so Edgar's
strongest weapon (highest Battle Power, IOWs) in your Inventory is the
Enhancer (meaning, no spears, basically, since Enhancer > all swords
until then) You want Edgar to come automatically equipped with Enhancer,
since Chain Saw still beats his Fight damage, and he can't even use
Jump (which is still out damaged by his tools), so the Enhancers +20%
to M. Block is far better than any other weapon as this point (the +7
to Magic Power is wasted on Edgar, raising the power of 2 of his weaker
tools)  For Helmets, do the same thing, only making sure that Bard's
Hat and/or Green Beret are his (in terms of the Defense stat), since
the M. Block/HP Boost will be more useful than the defense boost from
Diamond Helm, let alone Bard Hat's higher magic defense.  Likewise,
Edgar wants the Diamond Armor, even more so than Celes, since his best
armor before then was the Inferior in everyway Gold Armor.

Done all that?  Alright, go to South Figaro Cave in one of two ways:
A. Take the long, dangerous path of about 20 steps (if that much) to
the cave, fighting weak enemies along the way, just note that Latimeria
in the forest use Magnitude 8 which COULD be painful, but that's why
you go in there prepared with Gaia Gear, making it a healing spell (see?
Told you those were still useful)
B. Be an ass, and rent a Chocobo for that extremely short distance
between South Figaro and the Cave

#Figaro Cave#

Doesn't matter which way you take, since well, you get there fine
either way.  The cave of South Figaro now is filled with fire weak
enemies.  Fire, weakness, something fire elemental should help.  Darn
we don't have Terra, nor do we have Gau or Shadow.  Wait! We have Sabin,
who has Fire Dance!  Use that, and watch enemies die.  Well, some will
live, but you should be able to kill those easily.  I suggest equipping
a Ribbon on Sabin or Celes, since there are some status attacks used
here (Mad Sickle causes Confusion), so you might as well avoid them.

#Figaro Basement#

More or less the same enemies here, use same strategies.  Keep in mind
that there is a Crystal Helm and Regal Crown here...you do NOT want these,
at least not yet.  Grab them on your way OUT of the place.  Why?  Those
2 things have higher defense than Green Beret and Bard's Hat, and you
want Edgar to have either of those against the upcoming Boss fight, so
just skip them for now.  Those chests aren't going anywhere.

%Tentacles%

Alright, Wall Ring + Running Shoes on Celes and Sabin, and now either
one of them can take this fight on solo (that's actually the strategy
used in their SCCs, if your curious) Edgar can't get that level of
preparation, though.  Why Running shoes?  The grabbing Sieze can only
be used on characters under the Slow status (well they can, just their
Attack script doesn't let them), which is caused by the special Sieze,
and Entwine.  Well, Running Shoes make you immune to Slow (which is
more important than the Auto Haste gives, in this case), so Celes and
Sabin won't ever be Siezed, which just about takes care of the hardest
part of the fight.  Wall Ring will protect against all their attacks
besides their Physical.  Edgar, sadly, can still get beaten down pretty
badly, though; he can still be made of some use.  One of the Tentacles
can be hit with Instant Death, so if you luck out on Chain Saw, you can
kill one instantly.  3 of them are Vulnerable to poison, so opening
with Bio Blaster will help speed the battle up itself.  As usual, Drill
and Chain Saw are good sources of damage.  Sabin should use Fire Dance
(or Air Blade if he knows it) til only the One Tentacle remains
(especially if it's the fire absorbing one), switch to Pummel or Aura
Bolt (again, whatever is stronger) Celes should cast repeated Ice2s
(she should know it by NOW) unless the only one remaining is the Ice
absorbing one, in which case, start beating him to death.  Extremely
easy fight, as long as you prepared for it properly.  Just, as usual,
don't get too confident to the point where you just keep attacking even
when your HP is reduced to near nothing, getting you killed.  Obviously
(This goes for all fights, of course), heal when your HP goes get low,
though it shouldn't if set up properly, its not impossible.

Now that you got Edgar back, grab the Soul Sabre (good replacement of
Osmose, in this challenge, if you need an incentive to grab it, which
means MP issues Terra and Celes may have becomes somewhat moot before
Econimizers)  Now you can grab the Crystal Helm (which you probably
won't ever use), and the Regal Crown (also likely not to see much use),
and continue on.  Give Edgar whatever Relics you want, since he doesn't
have any.  Well, you don't HAVE to, but might as well, right?  On your
way out of Figaro, put Edgar in the front of your team, and grab a
Debilitator at half price, if you didn't steal one earlier (and sell
the Crystal Helm for quick cash while you're at it) You might be
inclined to stock up on items with Edgar's discount, but I digress, you
want money for equipment first.  Before going to Kohlingen, actually,
make a stop back at South Figaro.  With Edgar as your lead, you can buy
stuff at half price there, just like Figaro Castle (don't get a "I
can't take money from the king" dialogue snipit, which might let you to
believe otherwise) So what's so good about this?  Well, any armor you
can get in Kohlingen, you can get in South Figaro too (IOWs, Diamond
class equipment), so grab a Diamond Shield and Diamond Armor there at
half price, and if you don't have enough of them, buy another Bard's
Hat (or Green Beret)  Setzer is joining soon, and he can use all this
stuff, and he wants them too.  Might as well get it at half price,
right?

#Kohlingen#

Alright, if you took my advice, you won't need to buy any Armor for
Setzer here.  If you didn't, buy a Diamond Armor and Diamond Shield
here (at full price...) Keep Edgar with his Enhancer (his Tools are
better than Jump, which should explain everything right there)  What
weapon for Setzer?  Well, he'll primarily be using Slots, so it doesn't
matter.  Keep the following in mind:
Lots of undead in Daryl's tomb, making Trump nigh useless (You'll be
healing enemies there, instead of kill them...)
Dice just suck.  Do NOT listen to anybody who suggests a combo of Dice
+ Fixed Dice w/ Offering combo.  No, Fixed Dice aren't bad (they beat
the hell out of Setzer's other weapons), but Dice are a totally
different story.  Not only is their max damage kind of disappointing,
the weapon is completely inconsistent.

So between Dice and Trump, I'd go Dice, actually (if you must force him
to have a weapon).  If you can do his Slots constantly (7 Flush and
Chocobop, at least), he shouldn't use his fight command at all, so it
doesn't matter.  It's cheaper than Trump, and despite sucking in damage,
at least doesn't heal the enemies there.  Basically, to be blunt,
Setzer's weapon does not matter, he should be using Slots!  Setzer's
Fight Command = Crap, until he gets Fixed Dice.

#Daryl's Tomb#

Alright, I was going to say go to the coliseum, but first, lets go to
Daryl's Tomb, and get some items first (mind, Coliseum is optional,
just nice way to get some good equips early on, if you have patience)

Alright, enemies here do not like Sabin's fire dance, since lots are
weak to fire, or if one enemy lives, opt for Aura Bolt instead, since
most are also weak to Pearl as well.  Likewise, they won't very fond of
Celes attacking with a Flame Sabre (or 2)  Fenix Down or Revivifies can
be used to kill just about every enemy here Mad Oscars, and I think one
other, whose name eludes me (I believe its Ogor, but don't quote me on
that)  Grab the Crystal Mail, and give that to Edgar or Setzer, not
Celes (you'll find out later), Genji Helmet and give that to whoever
you want (I recommend not Celes again, since she benefits the least
(one could argue Mystery Veil > Genji Helmet, actually)), or just keep
it in your inventory if you prefer the Bard Hat's M. Block boost.  Get
the EXP Egg, and Czarina Gown.  Now, you can either skip the next
section, and just continue on with the game, or take a side trip the
coliseum, which is where we are going next!  Again, this is totally
unnecessary, just makes life easier

*COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY OPTIONAL! SKIP THIS IF YOU JUST WANT TO
CONTINUE THE CHALLENGE!*
#Colosseum#

Alright, your wondering why you are here, right? A lot of the good
stuff can't be gotten yet, why bother being here, correct?
WRONG! There's actually a few nifty pieces of equipment you can get
here.

First off, make sure you save before entering a fight, since in case
you lose, reset, and try again, so you don't lose the item, in case
things mess up.  Done that? Good.

Keep in mind: Outside of being really lucky, I am NOT certain as to
whether some of these fights are winnable or not, at this current point
in the game.  So don't start bashing me because you keep losing a fight.
For fights I am certain are winnable, I'll note the strategies to beat
them.

Now, the best reward you can get here at this point in time, and
probably the easiest to boot, is the Minerva.  That's right, arguably
the best armor in the game (Snow Muffler and Force Armor being its
competition) can be gotten BEFORE the Falchon!  What? Think I'm lying
about the Minerva, with its +4 to Magic Power, immunity to 4 elements
while halving the other 4, almost Genji Armor level defenses, +10% M.
Block, and 25% MP Boost,  being gotten this early and extremely easy?
Well, that Czarina Gown you might think seems useful, but considering
that:
A. It's usable only by Relm, whose not in your team
B. It's totally outclassed by Behemoth Suit, which chances are, you get
BEFORE Relm, which is also usable by Relm (and its easy to get 2 of
them anyway)
C. It's used only by Relm, the character who you are likely to NEVER
use, unless it's for purposes of raising characters equally, in this
challenge

Lets compare that to the Minerva, shall we?
A. Used by Celes, who IS in your team
B. Is arguably one of the best armors in the game, with all its
benefits, only armor that matters (in comparison for these purposes),
is the Force Armor, which you can't get yet, and is shared by 6
characters, Minerva is used by only 2
C. Elemental Resistances = Very useful, since a good deal of elemental
resistance (namely the shields) is illegal in this challenge, let alone
resistance/immunity to all 8 elements at once
D. Is used by Terra, who is arguably your best character in this
challenge.

So, convinced it's a worthwhile trade off?  I know I am.  Anyways...what?
You keep getting killed instantly by the Sky Base's opening "Doom"
Spell?  Don't get ahead of yourself, you can kill him with ONE piece of
equipment:
Wall Ring
The guy can only use battle, and has 3 slots to use Doom (meaning 75%
chance he'll cast it, and 25% chance he'll use Battle), so chances are,
he'll use Doom by turn 2, if not turn 1.  Doom will be reflected, and
funny thing is, the guy himself is NOT immune to it.  Thus, he kills
himself (Doom should hit him more often than not), and you get this
really nifty piece of armor, and you haven't even gotten the Falchon!

What other worthwhile rewards can you get now, you ask?  Well, betting
a Charm Bangle, if you managed to get it from Gestahl, can be traded in
for a Dragon Horn, which finally gives Edgar a reason to use a Spear
(Dragoon Boots + Dragon Horn + Half Decent Spear = Edgar's best damage,
most likely, and yes, this DOES include Genji Glove + Offering set up)

Next, Genji Gloves and Gauntlets will yield Thunder Shlds.  If you have
a Gauntlet (since you probably got the Genji Glove, chances are you
don't), bet that, since it's a bad relic, and the Vectagoyle is a lot
easier to beat than the Hemophyte.  Vectagoyle has Blaze (Fire), Giga
Volt (Thunder), and Surge (Ice).  Well, look at that, 3 elements the
Minerva is immune to, meaning he's forced to use his physical.
Obviously, Celes is your choice for that fight.  Equip her with her
best defensive stuff (your call between Genji Helmet and Mystery Veil),
and either Enhancer (for the M. Block) or Drainer (for healing)  Should
be able to out last him.
Hemophyte? He uses Shockwave, Pearl, and Cursed Gaze (Siezure status).
Pearl can be dodged with Wall Ring, Cursed Gaze with Cure Ring (it
gives Siezure immunity, so that with the Auto Regen make it a pretty
good idea to equip), and Shock Wave with high M. Block and magic
defense.  Since Celes has the best M. Block, and defensive gear at this
point, she's a good choice.  So just fight him and hope you win.
Should be doable, not sure if it's going to be easy though.

What? Thunder Shield is a banned item? Oh yeah.  So doing that is
worthless, right? Wrong!  Thunder Shield can be bet for the Genji
Shield, which is the 2nd best Shield in terms of raw defense (not
including Tortoise Shield on an Imp), along with giving +20% M. Block
and a nice high Magic Defense score.  Obviously, something you want.

However, note that the enemy you fight isn't an easy one.  Outsider is
fast, and can likely kill you with X-zone before you do anything.
However, there are ways to beat him, it just involves lots of luck.
Basically, survive X-zone (either dodge via M. Block/Stamina or hope he
doesn't cast it), and then hope you can kill him before he either X-
zones you, or throws Shurikens, Tack Stars, whatever at you, which WILL
kill your characters at this level.
So...with that offense, speed, inability to get around his attacks, how
would you beat him?  Lucky for you, this is guy is vulnerable to
Instant Death!  What forms of instant death do you?  Well, you have
Chain Saw, but that's unreliable, due to being part of a skill set
(which you can tweak via selling the other tools then rebuying them
(just NEVER sell the Chain Saw, its one of a kind))  You do have Trump
and Soul Saber though!  Trump is probably best, since you just have
Setzer go in there, and he will probably use his Fight Command (I
forget if Slots can be used in the coliseum or not), and thus, you have
a chance to win right there.  Mind, its only a 1/4 chance for the ID, so
its not insured, obviously, but if your patient enough, and don't mind
constant resets, you'll eventually win.
You can use Soul Saber, but its painful, just cause it involves some
extra preparation, and just plain isn't worth it.  You have the Trump,
use it, it makes life easier!

Betting Elixir will get you a rename card.  To win this easily, I
suggest using Edgar, equip him with Sniper Sight (the Cactrot can
Beserk you, which can be a GOOD thing in the Colosseum, if you prepare
properly.  Against Cactrot w/ Sniper Sight, it probably is), and he
just needs to hit the guy 3 times (any of those can be substituted by
Autocrossbow, same results) or just get a successful Chain Saw or Drill
will kill him instantly.  To increase your chances of success, sell
Noiseblaster and Debiltator, so Edgar has only offensive Tools, and is
insured to hurt the guy (unless he uses Instant Death Chain Saw), since
his Tools have perfect accuracy, which overrides perfect Evade, and
Sniper Sight lets his physical do the same.

What do with that Rename Card(s)?  Bet it for a Marvel Shoes, the Relic
that gives Auto Regen, Safe, Shell, and Haste!
How to beat Doom Drgn?  Alright, his attacks consist of Battle (basic
physical), Fallen One (Kefka's trademark HP -> 1 attack), N. Cross
(Causes Freeze status, 90% hit rate, 50% chance of actually targeting
the enemy (odd, I know)), and S. Cross (Fire Elemental attack, a bit
weaker than Fire3)

Seems like a hard fight, right?  Well, if you're doing this in order,
you should already have a Minerva, and maybe a Genji Shield.  Both of
those will prove quite handy against him.  Minerva will completely null
out S. Cross, which is good since it means Fallen One becomes a bit
less deadly, AND, S. Cross is beneficial in that it means one turn he's
basically wasted when he could have used Fallen One, as well as it
knocks you out of Freeze status if N. Cross hits (given how long Freeze
lasts, this is not only good Gameplay wise, but sanity wise too)  And
given that Genji Shield and Minerva end game equipment, and you already
have the Genji Helmet, Celes' defense is as high as its ever going to
be in this challenge, nixing the Thornlet (bad!), and Genji Armor (not
so much bad, just Minerva is better overall), and with shoving her in
the back row, she should be able to take the physical hits with no
problem.
So that leaves Fallen One to deal with.  There is no way around Fallen
One besides hoping a character uses Jump the turn before Fallen One is
cast, and that's not something to rely on.  However, recall that Fallen
One can't kill you, and with Minerva, his only lethal attack is his
fight Command, which is blockable.
Celes w/ Minerva, Enhancer, Genji Shield and Mystery Veil has 69% M.
Block (over half the max!), and of course, relying on Celes to cast
Cure whenever she's hit with Fallen One is a bad idea (as is hoping she
uses Fight with a Drainer, so no, I didn't forget about that)  Cure
Ring should be your relic of choice in this fight, since it insures
you'll always be healing from Fallen One, and that with Celes' Evade
and Defenses, might be able to outdo the fight command's damage,
especially considering he only has a 1/4 chance of using Fight, and he
wastes turns using S. Cross.  At that point, it comes down to luck,
basically.  If you want to increase your chances of success, throw on a
White Cape, so Celes gets another 10% M. Block, and 5 more Defense.
Again, this fight sounds harder than it is, as it's easily doable, but
its far from 100% chance of victory, obviously.  Granted, getting
Marvel Shoes this early is a BIG help.

Following the Marvel Shoes, you can get another Genji Helmet by betting
the Regal Crown, which you fight an Opinicus (a fairly straight forward
enemy, use Celes since she has the best equipment by far at this point,
if you were smart and got the Minerva first)  Mind, Genji Helmets
aren't all they are cracked up to be, but they aren't useless either,
so whether you think its worth bothering for is up to you.

Lastly, you can actually get Genji Armors now (useful for Setzer and
Edgar, Celes doesn't need it with her Minerva), though its pretty long
and annoying, involving you to bet Tabby Suit, and Chocobo Suit, and
keep betting what you win all the way til Nutkin, which becomes Genji
Armor, and some of the enemies you fight are nasty, and might not be
beatable as of now.

Alright, finished your Colosseum Binge?  Good, now that you have all
this great stuff this early on, time to go continue the game.

*END OF THE OPTIONAL COLOSSEUM SECTION, NOW BACK TO DARYL'S TOMB*

After grabbing all the chests, make sure you save at the save point,
since if you know this game, you'll know there's a monster in the box.
So, yeah, just save.

%Presenter%
Alright, you can either try to cheese this out by just having Setzer
use Trump and hope the instant Death kicks in, as well as trying a
similar thing with Edgar and his Chain Saw, Celes with the Soul Sabre,
or either character with the Break Blade (The guys vulnerable to
instant death AND petrification) Or you can fight it normally involving
the usual bashing his head plenty of times, knocking out all 9845 of
his HP.  Remember, he's weak to Fire, so Celes with a Flame Sabre is
probably the best damage she's going to do, and Sabin's physical can
rack up some decent damage (especially if you give one of them/both
Genji Gloves and Atlas Armlets/Hero Rings)  Remember, the Shell likes
to counter when hit, though, your rewards for killing it AND the head
(reducing both HP to Zero on the same turn) nets you *2* Dragon Claws,
something Sabin might like (if you plan to give him a Genji Glove when
he needs to apply Pearl Weakness, I guess, maybe...)  Anyways, should you
want to take out the shell, keep in mind he counters with Giga Volt, so
if you got Celes' Minerva (explained in the Coloseum section
previously), that'll be helpful.  He also can cast Magnitude 8 in his
shell, which is pretty painful, so Sabin and Setzer might want to equip
Gaia Gear to absorb it (Celes will halve it with the Minerva, though
she too can use Gaia Gear if you so please)  Shouldn't be too hard if
you stay focused and such.

Give that dragon claw to Sabin.  Why?  I'm not going to dignify that
question with a response -_- Anyway, grab the Man Eater, best give it
to Setzer, since its better than the weapons he has now, what with all
the undead running around, Dice being a crap weapon, and Man Eater
giving +10% M. Block to boot, while Edgar and Celes are using Enhancers
that are superior, seems like a logical idea (Why not Sabin?  Maybe
cause, I dunno, he can't use it!)

%Dullahan%

First and foremost, make sure you are prepared not to be hit with L?
Pearl.  What do I mean? I mean make sure the last digit of your GP is
not a factor of your characters levels.  Walking in with 13825 GP and
being level 30 is just ASKING to be killed by him.  Likewise, so...if you
can get your characters all to prime number levels (levels divisible
only by 1 and themselves), then you'll be immune to it unless your GP
ends in a 1.  I think if it ends in a 0, it can't hit you, but don't
quote me on that.  Anyway, just try and get it so as little of your
characters can be hit with L? Pearl as possible.  If worst comes to
worst, walk back to Kolingen, then sell a few 1 GP items (Elixirs, X-
potions, ethers, etc.) til you get the last digit to exactly what you
want, then just run from the every fight, so your GP amount doesn't
change.

Alright, once you've gotten around L? Pearl, lets see what this guy has.
Well, he has several Ice attacks, one being Absolute Zero which means
Wall Rings can't save your ass entirely, he knows Pearl, he has a
physical used only once he attacks directly, and he has Reflect ??? for
characters that use Reflect, as well as of course L? Pearl.  And he
knows N. Cross too.
Well, wouldn't you know it, Minerva Celes is immune to some of his most
damaging attacks, halves Pearl, and...yeah, if you have the Minvera, its
quite helpful here.  But anyways, have Celes use Runic to dodge his
more annoying attacks, Edgar use Chain Saw, Setzer use Slots or Fight,
and act as a utility, and have Sabin equip Fire Knuckles (he's weak to
Fire) and attack him physically (should do more than Fire Dance) If you
want, try have Edgar get Debilitator to get him weak to Pearl (or Wind
if you have Air Blade), so you can use Dragon Claw (which is a good
deal stronger than Fire Knuckles), or use a stronger Blitz like Aura
Bolt (or Air Blade) to apply better damage.  Just keep your HP high,
and just be careful of "Morning Star" (it's a move that, you know,
doesn't ignore back row.  Thought that little info might help you think
of a way to take less damage), and Absolute Zero, you should be able to
beat him.

Or...
You could just sit there, with a Wall Ring on one or more characters
(if you have Minerva, Celes should be one of those characters), and
wait for him to lose all his MP (he won't use Morning Star or Battle
unless you physically attack him, so he'll be bombarding you with
Nothing but Magic), with Wall Rings, the ONLY attack he has that can
hurt you is Absolute Zero, and if you nabbed a Minerva, Celes is immune
to that.  Basically, just wait him out (he has less MP than you think,
and casts high level expensive spells like Ice3 and Pearl, so it falls
even faster), and he'll eventually run out of MP.  When he has "Not
enough MP" to cast spells, scan him, see how much MP he has (Celes
SHOULD know Scan by now), and then keep casting scan (you could do this
while he's busy nuking you with useless spells, to see how close you
are to beating him) til Celes' Current MP subtracted from her Max MP is
equal to or more than his MP, then smack him with the Soul Sabre.
Remember, with Wall Ring he WILL cast Reflect???, which causes Silence,
meaning Celes won't be able to cast Scan, so have a White Cape or
Ribbon available if you plan on using this strategy.

Now go get the Falchon, and yay! FF6's Linearity has just ceased to
exist, and thus we start the REAL part of the WoR.  Enjoy the Falchon
coming out of the water, and the song Searching for Friends kicking and
replacing "Dark World" as the overworld theme!

At this point, you can do things in whatever order you feel, I'll just
be suggesting things in the order I feel is best, but you don't have to
follow it event by event.  So if I suggest, say, doing Cyan's soul last,
and you want to do it the instant you get Cyan (attempting it before
Cyan is just plain moronic for a number of reasons), be my guest.  Want
to get the Moogle Charm ASAP for easier dungeons?  Have a blast.  See?
So yeah, this is just my preferred way of doing things.

I personally suggest going to Mobliz and getting Terra first.  Well,
ok, you can make a pit stop and grab Gau from the Veldt (to make
 room, go to Phoenix Cave or Kefka's Tower, and exit them instantly.
It'll make you have a team of Setzer alone, then you can make a 3 person
party from there), and frankly, I'm going to assume you get Gau whenever
, since he's so easy to get, he doesn't deserve his own section.  Grab
Bum Rush if you want to as well, for obvious reasons. ANYWAY, as I said,
probably good idea to get Terra, as she's your main healer and a prime
damage dealer.

#Mobliz#

Here, it doesn't matter who you bring, though, I'll note that its probably
a good idea to NOT give Celes the Minerva, so when Terra joins for the 2nd
 fight, she'll have it automatically equipped (unless you have a Genji
Armor, so I suggest you do NOT have that in stock.  You probably shouldn't
either, though its possible), and thus, make the fight that much easier
(it nulls out all his damage but Solar Plex and Blow Fish)  Beyond that,
just make sure you enter the fight without lightning damage as your primary
offense...

%Phunbaba%

First fight isn't much.  Just watch out for Blow Fish, as that might be
strong enough to kill a character, so have Fenix Downs ready.  If you have
 Gau, have him use some sort of Rage that nulls or absorbs Lightning, but
does NOT use Lightning attacks itself (Rhinox is an example, which uses Life
3 to boot, so he covers some defenses too, if you don't mind the lack of
offense) Sabin should spam Bum Rush, if you have it, otherwise Aura Bolt or
Air Blade (depending on what level he is) if you don't, Celes can either
Runic away his spells, or attack with Ice 2, and Edgar can opt for a Dragon
 Horn + Dragoon Boots strategy (if you got a Dragon Horn from the Coloseum
Already), or just use Drill.  Setzer should use Slots, unless you have Fixed
Dice (I personally suggest waiting til you get Mog to get those), in which
case, use that.  Wall Rings help in this fight too, as they stop a bunch
of his attacks, and they also let Celes not have to care about Runicing
either (all of his Runicable stuff is also Reflectable)

At end of fight, he'll knock away two characters as usual, and you'll get
Terra.  Now the fun begins.  If you took my advice, Terra will be immune to
lightning damage (I suggest Terra having the Minerva as she WILL be in your
team for this fight, Celes has a 50% of not being there, so its risky)
Have her Cast Fire 2, and the other character do what they were doing in the
fight before.  If you want to make him cry, Debilitator him til he's weak to
Fire, and watch Terra dish out over 8000 damage.  Not a hard fight at all,
really, especially if you have the Minerva.

After Phunbaba dies, if you don't have Gau, I HIGHLY recommend you get him
now, especially since your team is automatically set to 3 people, so its not
like your going out of your way to make a small party :P

Anyway, getting Mog and the Moogle Charm is probably the next good idea (so
you can raid Kefka's Tower and get all the goodies there early <_<) so its
off to Narshe!

#Narshe#

Highly recommend you bring Terra here due to Cure 2, but again, it shouldn't
matter much.  I should note from now on, Terra and Celes likely should use no
other weapon but Enhancer (UNLESS said weapon is Illumina or Ragnarok, of
course), so assume that's stapled onto them. Narshe is fairly straight
forward; enemies don't really hurl much that's dangerous at you, especially
in an NMG (OH NOES! MUTE ON CHARACTERS WITHOUT MAGIC!  Maybe they'll be lucky
and hit Terra or Celes with it (or Gau in certain rages) <_<), though, do
NOT use a Rage that has "Dies if MP = 0" on it here, as there are enemies
with Rasp and Osmose, and those moves will one hit kill Gau, so just be
careful.  When you grab Mog and the Moogle Charm, head out of Narshe.

At this point, it'd be a good idea to raid Kefka's Tower.  Do NOT use
any team other than the one with Mog in it, who should have the Moogle
Charm, and make sure you do NOT go too far in path 3 or you'll be eating
a fight with Inferno.  When your done with that, now I'd suggest heading
to get Cyan, since the rewards there are worth it and such

#Mt. Zozo#

After upgrading your equips in Miranda and Tzen (Crystal Shields, Circlets,
and possibly the Crystal Mail and Dark Gear for those who need it), after
that, head to Mt. Zozo.  Why are we going here?  Well, yes, Cyan might not
be that stellar, but the rewards at Mt. Zozo absolutely rock, since you
get the Red Cap, Aegis Shied (you should already have one from Kefka's
Tower, mind, from a hidden room in Party 3 in the first conveyor belt
room), and Force Armor.

Suggested team?  Terra and Celes since we're fighting Storm Dragon, and
you'll want that Wind immunity from the Minerva (and they'll have high
defenses due to Minerva + Crystal Shield + Enhancer + Mystery Veil overall).
Gau since he's as usual a solid choice (Aspik Rage would be good for
offense on the guy), and probably Sabin for raw offense.  Mind, you can
bring whoever you want, but that's just who I recommend.

There really isn't much to watch out for here, just be sure to fight
Lurdians so Gau can get that Rage (Earth Slide and such) later.  Be
sure to pick up the Gold Hairpin (without Osmose, that's an actually
worthwhile Relic for Terra, Celes, Strago, and possibly Gogo), Red Cap,
and Aegis Shield.  Now its time to assault...

%Storm Dragon%

Yeah, no Thunder Shields being legal can be a pain on this guy, but
that's why we have the Minerva girls to stop it :P  Gau can either go
 defensively with a Rage that's immune to Wind and/or instant Death, while
Sabin will just Bum Rush like crazy.  Terra Morphing isn't a bad idea, as
it lowers the damage from Rage, and be sure everyone's in the back row, as
Wing Saber is quite painful (though, if you got a Snow Muffler already from
doing the Veldt Cave ark, then Gau will laugh), unless hitting Terra or
Celes (Minerva and Crystal shield does that)  Terra should heal with Cure 2,
and watch out for Cyclonic as it knocks your HP down to fatal levels,
assuming it hits (Gau's ID immune Rage helps here, if you feel like using
one)  If you have Edgar, use Chain Saw or Drill, while Setzer should just
toos Fixed Dice.  Might take a while due to this guy's high 40k Hp for
the time, but he should fall eventually.

When Stormy is dead, claim that Force Armor and give it to whoever
(recommend NOT Terra and Celes, as Minervas are overall more useful
in this challenge due to limited elemental defenses), then just
grab Cyan and head out.

Probably good idea to do the Veldt Cave now, so...

#Veldt Cave#

Celes and Terra again are good options, though for different reasons
(Terra being a healer, Celes...you'll find out why later), as is of
course Gau.  Whoever the 4th character is shouldn't matter, but Sabin's
 still in his prime, so he's probably best.  This cave has some annoying
enemies to be careful of, like Rhyos, though, the two girls
and their Minervas will help soften up some of the pains here.
When you get to...

%Allo Ver%

You can go about this two ways.  Cheaply drop a Fenix Down or Revivify,
or have Terra cast life on him, and he'll die...OR do it the legit way
and fight him outright.  Being undead, he's weak to Fire, so Terra
should be using Fire 2.  The guy likes Condemned, so an undead
Rage on Gau (so long as you remember not to heal him) might not
be a bad idea; Overmind or Vaporite work well (cast Elf Fire
and Blaze respectively, and are Undead)  Sabin Bum Rushes, Edgar
Chain Saw or Drill, Cyan uses whatever Sword Tech your comfortable
with (NOT EMPOWERER), and Setzer hurls fixed dice.

He's dead, give Sabin those Tiger Fangs, and continue on.  Don't
miss the Striker so you can, you know, get Shadow later.
Now its time for...

%Sr. Behemoth%

If you have Celes, this fights a joke.  Cast Imp, and watch him struggle
to kill you.  Yes, he'll heal himself from the status here and there...
but then just reapply the status.  That's the first part of the fight.
If you don't have Celes...just hit him with your best attacks, heal
when necessary.  If you have someone with a Wall Ring, he'll repeatedly
try to remove it and fail with a weak physical, so that's an idea too.

His second form...well, its undead, so you can be nasty and just hit him
with a Fenix Down, Revivify or Life Spell.  He's also vulnerable to Instant
Death, so if you have Edgar, have him use Chain Saw until it connects
(do NOT use Trump as that will just heal him), or have Mog use Dusk
Requim Rage and Snare will get him (Cave In also works, if you're curious)
Gau's Rhodox Rage (if you don't mind Killing him and reviving him to re apply
his Rage) Works too.  If you want to fight "Fairly"...well, he's weak to
 Fire and Pearl, so hit him with your strongest fire attacks (you don't
have much in the Pearl Department), Bum Rush, what have you.  Heal when
necessary, and just watch out for Doom (if he reflects this off himself, he'll
fully heal, so another thing to be careful about) Meteo might be threatening,
so have a high M. Block character around just in case too (Edgar, Terra, and
Celes are prime choices since they can use Enhancer, combined with Aegis Shield,
Bard's Hat/Mystery Veil, and Minerva/Force Armor, they'll have some high M.
Block)

When Sr. Behemoth falls, you'll get sent to Thamasa, and just go grab Shadow
as you normally would, he's an easy fight and such.  Yay! Another high
Offense Character!

At this point, I suggest fighting on the Veldt til you get 3 more Behemoth
Suits (you already have one)  This won't take as long as you think, since
when you fight one Sr. Behemoth on the Veldt, you'll not only have 100% chance
of winning a Behemoth Suit, but also, the next fight is GUARANTEED to be an
Sr. Behemoth too, so you get two in one run through right there.  FURTHER MORE,
if you fight that first set of Sr. Behemoth's, you are guaranteed at least one
Sr.
Behemoth per cycle!  Once you get those, go the coloseum, and bet two of them
for
Snow Mufflers (one for Mog, and one for Gau)  Easy way to beat the Outsider?
Send
Shadow in there with the Striker (Genji Glove and Assassin is a good idea)
and hope the Instant Death kicks in. If it doesn't, reset and try again. Setzer
and Trump works just as well, if you prefer that (don't worry about defense
here, the guy uses Throw, so he'll laugh at any defensive set ups
you send at him)

With Snow Mufflers, Mog and Gau have all their Armors they'll need for
the rest of the game.  At this point, it's a good idea to start buying a bunch
of throwing muninition for Shadow.  Start with just 99 Ninja Stars since they're
cost effective, then grab Falchions and elemental weapons for Shadow.  The
former is Shadow's best weapon for raw damage that he can get in Bulk
(Tack Stars are a pain), and the latter just do massive damage when
hitting weakness.

With Snow Mufflers in tow, now its good idea to go back to Narshe...
but first lets go to the Opera House and kick Dirt Dragon's but!

%Dirt Dragon%

Dirt Dragon uses a lot of Earth Attacks, so Cherub Downs are a good idea.
Why not Gaia Gear?  Those things leave you open to get your ass kicked by
 Horned Tusk, AND they don't provoke him into wasting turns using 50Gs
either.  If you must know, Mog w/ 255 Defense (Snow Muffler, Aegis Shield,
and Genji Helm SHOULD let him hit that bench mark) in the Back Row with
Snow Muffler is IMMUNE TO ALL HIS DAMAGE.  Basically, if its not obvious
use Mog.  If you can get Gau's defense to 255, then he too can pull off
a similar feat.  Seeing as he can't hurt either, there...really isn't
much of a strategy needed from here on in.  Ok, have Shadow hurl
his strongest Wind or Water elemental weapons (or Falchions/Ninja Stars
if you have none.  No, Water Edge probably doesn't count here), Edgar
use Chain Saw, Terra and Celes cast spells, Sabin use Bum Rush, and Cyan
use whatever Swordtech.  Gau should use whatever Rage does most damage,
and Mog...well, just have him Dance or something.  Doesn't matter which,
mind, since Mog can't die.

#Narshe#

Ok, not much to say here, just head for the hills (I don't mean this
as a joke...I SWEAR!), and bring Terra, Celes, Gau and Mog, since
you'll be fighting...

%Ice Dragon%

As his name implies, he just hurls a bunch of Ice spells at you.
Well, Minerva and Snow Muffler make those spells worthless, so all you
have to be careful of is his Freeze Status and his weak physical.  From
here on, just have Terra cast Fire Spells, Celes smack him with
the Flame Saber (Since her own spells are worthless), Gau use some Fire
elemental Rage, while Mog does whatever (probably Dragoon Combo on him
is a prime idea at this point, since should be able to nab a Dragon Horn by
now)  Should you want to use anyone else...Edgar, Cyan and/or Setzer should
have a Force Armor on for some Ice Protection, and use their best attacks,
Sabin use Bum Rush, and Shadow hurl Flame Sabers.

With Ice Dragon dead, you get a (worthless in this challenge) Force Shield.
Pat yourself on the back or something since now you have only 5 dragons left
...or something...ok, I got nothing, just go kick some esper ass when
you meet up with...

%Tritoch%

Guy likes to hurl Ice spells (duh?) and Rasp/Osmose at you.  That...basically
tells you this fight is a joke, especially when you consider his abysmal magic
defense score which lets Terra dish out obscene damage to him. Shadow can do
some
massive damage by hurling Fire Skeans too (they hit Magic Defense), Gau should
use
a Fire Rage, Sabin use Bum Rush (even hitting weakness and the low magic defense,
Fire Dance is STILL weaker), Celes attack with the Atma Weapon (his defensive is
obscene, and she has nothing but Ice damage which doesn't work on him, so this
is her only means of doing something that can be considered damage), Cyan use
Dispatch or Stunner (if you have the latter anyway), NOT Quadra Slam (Slice
is alright if you have it though), since that doesn't ignore defense and
he'll laugh at that.  Edgar should use Drill and Setzer use his Slots or
Fixed Dice.  Wall Rings, Minerva and Snow Mufflers make this fight
an utter joke.

With Tritoch dead, you now get a worthless Esper (unless you're playing
a Pseudo NMG),and thus, now its time to get Umaro.  Why?  Because I said
so and you want to get it out of the way.  You don't?  TRUST me, YOU DO!
EVEN IF IT SERVES NO PURPOSE! MWAHAHAHAHAH! ...ok, sorry about that lets
just get back to stuff that matters <_<  I'm doing Umaro's section now
only cause it fits, if you must know, and hence, another good reason to
bring Mog to Narshe (if Snow Muffler single handedly beating Tritoch and Ice
Dragon wasn't enough of a reason...)

#Umaro's Cave#

Yeah, not the name of the dungeon, but I seriously forgot what it is called,
and this at least tells us what it is!  So...what to do?  First and foremost,
White Capes and Ribbons are your friends.  Enemies love to hurl Imp status at
you, so you want to avoid that.  If you don't have Imp Protection, Celes' Imp
Spell and Green Cherries will be helpful here and such.

I suggest NOT fighting the Pugs now, as they aren't exactly going to be friendly
to you, and you don't get anything from them (you already have two Minervas).
If you wish to beat them, come back later when you've got better equips,
high levels, etc.  As of now, lets just go beat up a certain yeti

%Umaro%

Absolute joke.  If you want, hit him with Bio Blaster, and he'll be poison.
Fire and Poison are his weaknesses, so it should be obvious what to do.  Really,
this fight is too pathetic to really go into depth, though, if I must, Terra
cast
Fire 2 (or Fire 3 if she's somehow learned that yet), Sabin use Bum Rush, Gau
use
 his strongest fire Rage, Mog use some sort of dance, Cyan use whatever Sword
Tech,
Shadow throw Ninja Stars (don't waste expensive stuff on him), Celes smack him
with the Flame Saber (he's immune to her Ice magic)...he's a very straight
forward fight in general.

Beat him, get him to join you, get the useless Terrato Esper in the mix and
stuff,
now lets go grab Gogo!

#Zone Eater Cave#

Why do we want Gogo now?  Well, here's a few reasons:
A. Gogo is useful in the NMG for a number of reasons, be it cause he can use
Lores,
Bum Rush for damage, or whatever, he's a decent character
B. The rewards here are good, mainly the Red Jacket for Sabin a Genji Armor (if
you
don't have one already) for Shadow.  You also get a Tack Star here, if that
means
anything.

Enemies here hurl Zombie status, so protect your self with Ribbons and stuff, as
well as Coverts like to use Wind Slash.  Do NOT bring Shadow here; enemies here
like to counter Throw with a Throw of their own which is not going to feel good,
so I recommend against using him.  Or you could cheese it out with the Moogle
Charm
...but that goes without saying.  Not surprisingly, Terra and Celes with their
Minervas are useful as usual.

Grab Gogo, leave this dungeon, give him the Tao Robe, and probably the Magus Rod,
and lets get going!  So who do we have left?  Well, Relm, who nabs us Strago,</pre><pre id="faqspan-4">
and Locke who...gets us the useless Phoenix Esper.  I say we go for Relm now,
since
Owzer's house is somewhat easier than the Phoenix Cave, and Strago is a lot more
useful
than the Phoenix Esper.


More to Come...

------------
7. More Tips
------------

Alright, a few things to think about in general throughout the game
that might have later use and such.

First off, Gau's Rages that are useful.  You should try to keep up with
this list.  I'm not going into why Rages are useful, since it can get a
nuisance, and such, but should people demand it, I'll post it in a
later version:
NOTE: This order is listed in the order I think of them, so until I can
actually remember the order of appearance, just bare with it for now
Aspik
Stray Cat
Templar
Marshall
Bomb
Overmind
Ing
General
Anguiform
Chimera
Hazer
Retainer (even if Overrated, Shock is not a bad attack, being slightly
better than a level 3, and Non elemental)
Wooley
Magic Urn
Vectaur
Luridan or Prussian (You can get both, but there generally isn't much
of a reason too)

More Rages likely to be added to that list in later Versions:

Rages you should avoid and reasons why:
Intangir: Alright, full Elemental Absorption, vanish, lots of positive
status effects, and almost total status immune...wasted by the shear fact
that this rage uses Pep Up.
Balloon: Uses Exploder.  That more or less explains everything here...
Repo Man: See Balloon
Night Shade: Well, ok, this Rage is great, but to keep the "Spirit" of
the challenge, I recommend not using this Rage, since it will make
bosses just a bit TOO easy.  Use it if you want to, but just warning
you this Rage = game becomes too easy
Doom Drgn: Same thing as Night Shade, basically, only hits less often.

NOTE: Again, there is no RULE against using the above rages, its just
they either suck, or suck some of the fun out of the challenge.  Use
them if you want to, but just letting you know before hand.


Next, build up Morph a bit.  By this, I mean during anytime your going
to gain skills, get GP, etc. I suggest bringing Terra (unless your
going to level up, in which case, bring whoever you wish to Level),
especially if its for Rage hunting.  Terra is the only character who
can consistently benefit from fights that don't give EXP.  A prime
example would be in the WoR, actually.  Cactrots are a great source of
GP that don't give any EXP (especially if you have Relm to double the
amount of GP you get with her Cat Hood.) They also give 10 Magic Points
which is normally useless.  However, bring Terra there, you can make
use of those Magic Points they give by building up her Morph Gauge.
Morph will prove valuable for wrecking Bosses.

Drill vs. Chain Saw.  You'll notice that when I say have Edgar use a
tool, I always say use one or the other.  Well, how to know which is
better?  Well, its not that hard:
If enemy is vulnerable to instant death, then use Chain Saw.  Chain Saw
is stronger (252 Battle Power compared to Drills 192), and should the
non Damage Instant Death form kick in, then there's a good chance it'll
kill them (in fact, the only way they will live is if the Stamina check
saves their ass)
Against an Instant Death Immune?  Well, that ones a bit harder of a
call.  Chain Saw does more damage, but when it uses its Instant Death
version, it's useless.  I'd go with Drill, unless you really need the
extra power.  Why?  Over 4 uses of the 2 Weapons, you get 3 Damage
Chain Saws, and one Instant Death failure, or 4 Damage Drills.  The 4
Drills will do more total damage than the 3 Chain Saws in damage.  Now,
you could get lucky and have nothing but damage Chain Saws, in which
case, Chain Saw is better, but why play with Luck?
Though, to be honest, it shouldn't matter all that much.  The only time
it matters is if the Chain Saw hates you, and keeps using its instant
death, thus meaning lots of wasted Turns.  Basically, Chain Saw is
stronger of the two tools, but Drill is a safer bet.  Either one works,
just know the downside of using Chain Saw on an instant death immune.

Get Bum Rush as soon as possible.  Its Sabin's best selling point, and
his best damage, this should be a pretty "Duh!" Statement.  And another
incentive, it gets Gogo's his best damage (besides maybe Imp Halberd
throwing) too!  Not a bad idea really.

And related to that, Gogo is a better Bum Rusher than Sabin.  In a
normal game, Sabin has the advantages of Espers, so such the case is
not necessary.  However, in this game, Sabin's stuck with his 28 Magic
Power.  Gogo only has 26, but now lets look at this.  Equipment plays a
HUGE role in the stat.  Keep in mind Bum Rush is magical, hence why we
only care about Magic Power:
NOTE: I'm ignoring the Circlet.  Both characters can use it, so it
shows nothing about either character, be it good or bad.  I'm not
bringing the Magus hat in either.  Do you really think 1 point of Magic
power is worth the lower defenses, and lower stat boosts?  If that were
the case, the White Dress MUST be better than Minerva, right?  No, its
not, thought so.  So SHUT UP!
Base Gogo: 26
Gogo after Magus Rod: 33
Gogo after Tao Robe: 38

Base Sabin: 28
Sabin after Tiger Fangs: 31
Sabin after Red Jacket: 32

Gogo has the 6 point lead in Magic Power to Sabin.  However, Sabin DOES
have higher speed (not that it means much) and Defense (this is
noticeable however)  Gogo, though, has higher M. Block that Sabin, even
if Sabin uses 2 White/Zephyr Capes, Gogo will still have a slight Lead.
Just to give you exact numbers:
(Assume both using the same helmet, since its the same situation as the
circlet.  Same goes for Shields too, as well)

Base Gogo: 6%
Gogo w/ Magus Rod: 36%
Gogo w/ Tao Robe: 46%

Base Sabin: 4%
Sabin...oh, it doesn't matter, none of his equips add to M. Block (armor
or weapons anyway)

Quite a big difference, isn't it?  Both can also use 2 Earrings/Hero
Rings, to augment their damage to best.
So oddly, the "imposter" outdoes the Original, for once.  Gogo is
indeed better for Raw damaget than Sabin and with higher M. Block, he
is arguably better defensivly to boot.  Factor in the ability to use
Lores (healing, if nothing else), Rages (lots of stupidly good Variety),
Magic (w/ Terra or Celes in team), etc., Gogo is clearly the better
option.  Don't this discourage you from using Sabin.  Level him up a
bit at least so he can be useful in Kefka's Tower, just note that when
you need someone for the shear sake of Damage (especially if its Bum
Rush), Gogo is most likely the better option.


More tips to come later...

-----------------------------
8. Frequently Asked Questions
-----------------------------

This will be done in a Q and A type session, only cause its easier...

Q. What is a Pseudo NMG?

A. Basically its your typical NMG, but with a little catch to make it
easier (and maybe more fun).  Terra and Celes can use Espers to teach
spells they learn naturally faster, similar to how Sabin learns Bum
Rush from Duncan earlier than level 70 and all.  Thus, you can Teach
Terra Ultima via Ragnarok Esper or Paladin Shield, if you please, Celes
Meteor via Crusader/Odin Esper, etc.  Some might take this a step
further and let characters equip Espers only for a battle where they
level up, to make use of stat Bonuses.  Basically, its not abusing the
Magic system, but being able to take advantage of some of its benefits
at the same time, kind of.

Q. What other challenges are there in FF6?

A. Well, there's the "Low Level Game" (LLG) which is basically beating
the game at as low a level as possible.  There's the "Single Character
Challenge" (SCC) where, whenever possible, you play the entire game
through with one character, and it uses lots of NMG like rules to
change them from each being "Teach character Ultima, and spam it to
hell!"  Some people have tried a No Equipment Game, but I haven't heard
of their progress on it.  There's the "Celes Edgar Setzer" challenge
(CES) which is basically playing the WoR without getting any characters
besides the ones you are forced to get (namely, Celes, Edgar, and
Setzer, hence the name of the challenge)

Q. Why are you so hard on Relm and Locke? I actually like them!

A. Well, in a normal game, their flaws aren't so apparent, since you
can give them magic and/or stat boosts.  However, in an NMG, they will
lag noticeably.  Locke really does lack any decent form of damage until
Hawk Eyes, and once he get those, his damage is just too inconsistent
to rely on, your better off using someone like Edgar.  Steal also have
very limited uses.  In the WoRs, though, this becomes less of a problem,
when he gets the Valiant Knife, making his damage somewhat better, both
consistently, and in general, and the Offering helps make him do more
damage too. In a normal game, you could give Locke spells early on,
given he's forced into the Magitek Factory sequence, so he has a head
start on some other characters, kind of, and while his Magic Power is
low, its still a nice boost in damage.
Relm is the same idea.  Normally, you'd give her spells quickly, and
she becomes quite a magical Powerhouse with her game's highest starting
Magic Power and best Magic Boosting equips, but...well, think about how
good a Mage w/out Magic would be?  Yes, not very useful.  And Sketch...is
never something really to Rely on.  Heck, its so random as to its
effects.  Sure, enemies always produce the same 2 attacks when Sketched,
but unless you know exactly what each sketch does, things can be messy.
How random can sketches be?  Sketching Ice Dragon casts Fire3!
So it's really these 2 characters were quite reliant on the Esper
system more than the others.  Every other character makes due some
other way:
Terra has her equipment options and Morph around, and gets Fire2 not
too late either.  Edgar has his tools, Mog his dances, both of said
characters have Spears for the Dragoon Boots + Dragon Horn combo later
on.  Gau's Rages haven't lost any use, actually gotten better, Sabin's
Blitzes also got a slight boost too, given that no magic means less
offense, and all Sabin really had was his offense.  Same with Setzer
and his Slots, and later, he gets Fixed Dice.  Strago's Lores are also
more useful in that they no longer completely hindered by being in
competition with Magic Skillset, which tended to outdo it in almost
everyway.  Gogo...should go w/out saying, Umaro sucks as usual, and Cyan
at least has the Tempest and good early game damage (even if totally
outclassed by Edgar and Sabin) with Dispatch.  Celes ends up just being
inferior to Terra, I'll admit, though she's not a bad choice, just its
hard to find a use for her that Terra can't do better (well, applying
Ice damage I guess...)

Use Relm and Locke if you want, but I'm just warning you that you are
making your life harder.

Q1. Who should I use for the Fanatics Tower?  I don' have magic!
Q2. How do I have Gogo use Magic in the Fanatics Tower, I gave him
magic and Item, but he has only Mimic and Item, WHAT IS THIS!

A. Alright, until I get that far in the Walk through, I'll just make my
own section here (this appears a lot of times on the boards)

First off, the team you should use is fairly obvious, but I'll list
them anyway:
Terra: She knows magic.  Obvious use here.  She's in.
Celes: Basically, the same reason as Terra, also in.
Gogo: Mimic can be used in the Fanatics Tower, meaning he right there
can do more than allies.  He can use Magic too, with Terra AND Celes in
your team.  But do NOT give him Magic.  This is where people go wrong.
Fanatics Tower erases any skillset that's not Item, Mimic, or
Fight/Jump.  Why can't you use Fight/Jump?  Well, that's the thing, the
game turns Fight/Jump into Magic.  So, just give Gogo the Fight command,
hurrah! He can use Magic like normal!  Yes, its weird, and messed up,
but if it works, its all good, right?
Umaro: Alright, usually, people who say "Use Umaro!" in the Fanatics
Tower are just thinking this cause he can use Fight, which is usually
not a good idea there (enemies have high Defense...). In this case,
however, given that Umaro can do something, and the other 10 characters
can't do squat (besides throw items randomly), Umaro becomes all of a
sudden a useful character here!

So yeah, the other 10 characters can use item, and nothing else.  They
lack any form of offense, are will just be sitting their twiddling
their thumbs while you could have taken the (adult) Girls who can be
blasting things left and right, Gogo to aide in that, and have Umaro
SMASH puny Fanatic Tower enemies.

Q. Is there a faster way to beat Magi Master than just waiting his MP
out?

A.  Yes, there is.  There are a few ways.

First off, you could just try some random arbitrary luck, and pray you
go that summon Palidoor using a "Magicite" item when he's on Low HP,
but the chances are incredibly against you, I wouldn't count on it.

Otherwise, you need to be creative.  Makes sure you have the soul Saber,
and in some cases, a Merit Award.

Situation A: Give Gogo a Heal Rod, and give Terra (or Celes) Genji
Glove, and Safety Bit (protect against his "Death" Spell)  Have Terra
equipped with Rune Edge (weakest MP Critical Weapon) in first hand, and
Soul Sabre in the 2nd.  Do NOT have a Wall Ring on her, you'll see why
Later.  Give her the Minerva for insurance.  Now, why use Genji Glove
in the Fanatics Tower?  Stupidest Idea you've ever heard? Well, no, see,
Celes has a move called "Beserk" which will let you make the target go
Beserk! Now, before doing anything, a wise idea would be to kill Umaro
off, be it through something like Breaking a Pearl Rod on him, having
Magi Master kill him with Doom, what have you.  Just make Sure Umaro
Dies, since Umaro living might kill the Magi Master by accident.
Another good idea is to have Terra (hence why I suggested her over
Celes) keep using Cure2 or whatever til she's out of MP.  Yes, you
heard me, just do it.
Now, have Celes cast Beserk on Terra (or herself if you chose her).
Terra will attack with Rune Edge and Soul Saber each turn!  Now, Soul
Saber's MP Draining is restricted to your MP loss, so normally, this
would stop working eventually.  However, the Rune Edge says differently.
Since it uses MP to get critical hits, it'll insure Terra (or Celes)
loses MP EVERYTURN!  Thus, you can shave off a bit extra MP besides the
53 or less he does everyturn by casting spells.  Now have Gogo mimic
Terra (just have Celes skip turns), and he'll smack Magimaster with a
Heal Rod.  Why do this?  So Terra doesn't accidently kill the guy with
her weak ass physicals (Weak ass cause of her Weapon combined with his
Defense...), thus prompting him to use Ultima, which nukes your party,
and you just wasted your time, great job!

Situation B: Give Gogo Merit Award, and Wall Ring (to protect against
everything he'll throw at you)  Have Umaro dead at the beginning of
fight, preferably, and have Terra and Celes just skip their turns (DO
NOT USE DEFEND!)  Have Gogo continually switch between the Rune Edge
(or Punisher, if you wish) til his MP is low, Soul Sabre to rasp that
away, then Heal Rod to heal any damage He might have done to the guy.
Keep having Gogo use Mimic (this is why Terra and Celes can't do a
single thing) and after plenty of smackings, you'll have just gotten
his MP down.

There are probably otherways to use the Soul Sabre to your advantage,
but those are just examples.  Basically, it involves using either
Gogo's Mimic Command w/ Merit Award, or Celes' Beserk, both using Soul
Saber.  Just get his MP to below 80, and you'll have won.

Q. What spells, and at what levels, do Terra and Celes learn their
magic naturally?

A. Alright, I feel stupid for not putting this in the original version,
so, yeah, its logical it should go somewhere, so I'll just put it here.
And cause I'm nice, I'll asterisk the ones that are useful in general
(Which means anything gotten above level 50 is generally not useful,
given its too high to get, hence why I'm not noting Ultima for Terra or
Meteor for Celes...), as well as quick overviews

Terra:

*Cure: Level 1 (given she starts at level 3)
*Fire: Level 3 (See above)
Antdot: Level 6
*Drain: Level 12
*Life: Level 18
*Fire2: Level 22
Warp: Level 26
*Cure2: Level 33
Dispel: Level 37
*Fire3: Level 43
*Life2: Level 49
Pearl: Level 57
Break: Level 68
Quartr: Level 75
Merton: Level 86
Ultima: Level 99

Overview of Skill set:  Alright, you should know what Terra's like
early on.  Later, she gets Life, which is handy, but Fenix Downs make
it less so.  When she gets Fire2, she'll be a lot more useful, given
she now has good offense (Just hope the enemy doesn't null/absorb Fire)
Cure2, however, is probably her most used spell.  She'll become quite a
powerhouse when she gets Fire3, and if you get Life2, all that much
better.  Pearl would be helpful if gotten earlier, and obviously, so
would have Ultima.  Merton though sucks in an NMG, given you can't use
Flame shields or Paladin Shields (means only Umaro, and Gau/Gogo using
proper Rages can benefit)  Oh, and Drain makes her a pain to kill, so
its good for Bosses.

Celes:

*Ice: Level 1 (Given the lowest she can start is level 5...)
*Cure: Level 4 (see above)
Antdot: Level 8
*Imp: Level 13
Scan: Level 18
*Safe: Level 22
*Ice2: Level 26
*Haste: Level 32
Muddle: Level 32
Beserk: Level 40
*Ice3: Level 42
Vanish: Level 48
Haste2: Level 52
Pearl: Level 72
Flare: Level 81
Meteor: Level 98

Overview of Skill set: A bit disappointing compared to Terra's, in
general, but not totally worthless.  Ice2 gives her an offensive punch,
though she learns it 4 levels after Terra learns Fire2.  Plus side is
she learns Ice3 one level BEFORE Terra learns Fire3, so she has quicker
access to her best damage.  Most of her skill set is support, as you
can see, and it's a shame Flare is gotten so late.  Also, her best
healing spell being Cure = Not good, obviously.  Not bad, really, but
still kind of disappointing.

----------
9. Credits
----------

Ok, first, I'd like to thank Squaresoft for making such a great game.
Even after 8 years, people are still playing it and considering it along
with the greats of now.

Next, I'd like to thank CjayC for creating Gamefaqs, and putting my FAQ
up there.

I give my regards to Grefter, Zelgaddis (did I spell that right?),
NeoElfBoy, and SageAcrin for looking over a few things I randomly Copy
and Pasted them, and for their support.

Also, thanks to Gourry who did quick read through of my Guide and
helped make the grammer a bit better.

If there's anybody I'm missing, well, I thank you too, and should I
have forgotten you and you want to see your name here (and you think
you actually DESERVE IT), then you can yell at me by IMing, E-mailing,
what have you.


Well, I hope this FAQ helped you out on one of the most basic of
challenges in FF6.  Hopefully, you'll look at some characters with
different light than you did your first time through, and you'll get a
better feeling for some abilities, skills, etc. that you didn't
normally use when you were just spamming Ultimas.  Well, basically, I
just hope this guide was helpful.  Should there be a problem, again, E-
mail me at my addresses listed above in the first paragraph or so, and
tell me your complaints (by that, I mean constructive ones), requests,
personal strategies, questions, etc.  I will NOT respond to out right
flames or just someone going on about how my FAQ sucks.  I will only
respond to E-mails that show signs of intelligence, and are clearly
there for benevolent reasons.

This is Meeple Lard, saying good bye, and good luck in the future.  Keep
a heads up for the updates, as they'll be coming around every now and
then.