################################################################# # The Final Fantasy V Straight Character Challenge FAQ v. 1.8 # # ============================================================ # # Written by Ian Diaz (idiaz1183 AT hotmail DOT com) ©2003-2005 # ################################################################# ________________________________________________ < Table of Contents FF V | < | < 1) About this Guide | < 1A) Copyright Info | < 1B) About the Author | < 1C) About the Game | < 1D) Stuff I Need | < 1E) Recent Versions Info | < | < 2) The Challenge | < 2A) The Rules | < ~ Optional Rules | < ~ Merit Awards | < ~ Solo Games | < 2B) Class Comments | < | < 3) Strategies | < 3A) Basic Strategies | < 3B) Job Specifics: Wind Crystal Jobs | < 3C) Job Specifics: Water Crystal Jobs | < 3D) Job Specifics: Fire Crystal Jobs | < 3E) Job Specifics: Earth Crystal Jobs | < | < 4) Miscellaneous Stuff | < 4A) Steal/Win List | < 4B) Fork Tower | < 4C) Codes | < 4D) Exp./ABP/Gil Locations | < 4E) N-ZONE Status Vulnerability Charts | < 4F) Links | < 4G) Apologies | < 4H) Old Versions Info | < | < 5) Hall of Fame | < 5A) Credits/Thanks | < 5B) HUGE PRETTY ASCII | < 5C) Notewothy SCC Achievments | < | <________________________________________________| ___________________________________________________________________________ 1) < About this Guide > This guide is intended to be used as a reference for those playing a Straight Character Challenge in Final Fantasy V. It has info useful for this particular challenge, and some which can be useful to a normal playthrough, though it's not intended to be a complete guide for that. In here you will find strategies for most bosses geared towards parties composed entirely of a single class, most of which can't heal or protect themselves very well, lists of useful items which can be found, won or stolen, codes for accessing the jobs, and the best locations to power up. This guide may only be found at GameFAQs. Look there for the latest version. If you want to put this up elsewhere, e-mail me. The answer will probably be no, but you can always try. =========================================================================== 1A) < Copyright Info > This document is Copyright 2005 Ian Diaz. It may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders. =========================================================================== 1B) < About the Author > On GameFAQs I'm known as iLikeSwords, but in life they call me Ian. I'm a huge fan of Robert Jordan, Terry Pratchett, bladed weapons, and tri-Ace games. And Squaresoft too I guess. This isn't the first FAQ I've written, but it's the first one I've decided to submit. If you want to contribute to it, that's fine, my e-mail is at the top of this FAQ. Just don't expect me to answer any specific questions about this or any other game. I'm assuming that since you've found this FAQ you know how to get around GameFAQs already. All the help you need is there. ~ Ian Diaz AIM: MrPointyHat E-Mail: idiaz1183 AT hotmail DOT com =========================================================================== 1C) < About the Game > Final Fantasy V was released in Japan on 12/06/92 on the Super Famicom. Though a North American localization was begun, it was eventually scrapped. Around 1997, as SNES emulators for the PC came on the scene, fans of the series, begining with group RPGe, created several translation patches for the SNES ROM. FFV was finally released in English on 09/30/99 as half of the Final Fantasy Anthology package for the Sony Playstation. The port was awful, and the translation wasn't great. But it was *legal*. Another official version is in the works for the GameBoy Advance. Hopefully it'll be, ya know, playable. RPGe's fan translation is more accurate, with more aesthetically pleasing names for characters, items, places, and abilities. The script however, is a bit dull and stale compared to the Anthology version. The ROM's lack of load time and the various capabilities of emulators make it the clear winner though, and I recomend that version. --Relevant Name Differences Off The Top Of My Head---------------- There are more, but this should be enough to avoid confusion. Butz = Bartz = Batz Boco = Boko Reina = Lenna Galuf Faris Krile = Cara = Kururu X-Death = Exdeath = Exodies = Exodus Enkidoh = Enkidu = Enkidou Ghido = Guido = Gill Dragon = Hiryuu Hydra = Syldra Carwen = Kerwin Walse = Worus = Walz Istory = Easterly Lix = Rikks Quelb = Kelb Regole = Rugol = Lugor Cleft of Dimensions = N-Zone Koozer = Kuza Ronka = Lonka Moore = Mua ------------------------------------------------------------------ =========================================================================== 1D) < Needed > If you know something I don't, e-mail me. I swear I'll get it this time. If you think you've got a better way of doing something, e-mail me. This is the stuff I know I need righ now. - Solo strats for all classes and specific classes. - Does Thief Glove affect Mug? - Winning Lotto numbers. =========================================================================== 1E) < Recent Versions > Version 1.70 - Re-did the Hall of Fame again. Added to basic strats. New Solo section. (6/13/2003) Version 1.71 - Corrected Brave Blade's power. Added on to solo section. (7/4/03) Added to the list of my accomplishments. Changed email addy. Version 1.72 - Added to the Hall of Fame. Considering moving to v 2.0 (10/8/03) Version 1.80 - Altered contact info. Added apologies. Finally added game (11/16/05) version info. Links relinkified. Updated: 1A, 1C, 2A, 3A, BLM, THF, SAM, DNC, CHM, 4F, 5A Added: 4G, 4H ___________________________________________________________________________ 2) < The Challenge > Some time ago, I was looking through the Final Fantasy Tactics FAQs and noticed a FAQ for something called the Straight Character Challenge. It had rules, tips and in-depth strategies for going through that game with a team all set to a single class, using no abilities from other classes. Trying a few games for myself, I was hooked, and soon joined a community of gamers enjoying the same challenge. While chatting on the social topic, some fellows mentioned SCCs for other games, including FFV. Intrigued, I loaded up the game and gave it a shot. I posted my progress on the message board and pretty soon, lots of people were doing them too! Which brings us to today. Without further a... adoo? Ah-due? Uh... Just read the rules, OK! =========================================================================== 2A) < The Rules > "Me making up rules, including rules that contradict other rules, is allowed by the rules." - Garland, 8-Bit Theater #309 1) After accessing the job you want, all five characters must set to same job throughout the entire game. 2) Characters may not use abilities from other jobs. 3) If attempting a Traveler or Mimic challenge, you may not master any other job. 4) "Attack" and "Item" are available to all jobs, including Mimic. To equip them, the Mimic must have already learned an ability from another job. 5) The challenge begins at wherever you acquire the class you want. You may use whatever jobs you like to reach that point, however, you may not use steal, control, or capture to acquire items, monsters or spells of any sort prior to changing into your job. Alternately, you can start the challenge immediately after acquiring Faris and her ship (see rule 6). 6) You may use only a cheat device (Gameshark/PAR/Game Genie) to change into a job before it normally becomes available. 7) Emulator users *may not* use savestates to save during battles or in dungeons (except at save points). Emulator users *may not* use Rewind to manipulate battles, or for any other reason. 8) Emulator users *may* use Fast forward to speed up sections of the game. You *may* make backup saves, due to the limited amount of space in the SRM. 9) The item duplication trick, as detailed in Wyrenth's Infinite Items Code FAQ and possibly elsewhere, is hereby banned. --Optional Rules-------------------------------------------------- You may, for certain classes, feel obliged to further increase the challenge. The following are merely suggestions for those masochistic SCCers out there not content with the more common bounds enforced above. Proceed with caution. ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> No Rod Breaking: Self explanatory. This mostly affects Time and Red magi, due to Sol Cannon for TIM and everything past world two for RDM. Because rods must be equipped to be broken and equipping rods is a Job Trait this is only an optional rule to increase the challenge. >> Wiznaibus: As the Thief Knife and Dancing Dirk allow all classes that can use them access to abilities of other Jobs, their use can be seen as violating the spirit of the challenge. Because !Fight must be used with the item equipped to benefit from these items and equipping knives is a Job Trait, this is only an optional rule to increase the challenge. >> No Magic Lamp: As the Lamp allows non-Summoners to summon, it could be seen as violating the spirit of the challenge. Alternately, you might decide to use the lamp and simply not recharge it, giving you a single shot of Odin and/or Golem. I feel less strongly about this than I do about the above because this item does not need to be equipped. --Merit Awards---------------------------------------------------- Felling the most evil tree in the multiverse not enough for you? Try these challenges to squeeze every last drop of fun out of your straight character games. For the record, I'm not gonna bother noting who did what in this FAQ. ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Red Mage's Code: Open every chest*, complete every sidequest*. Seize the exp! Let no magical item go to waste; even if you can't equip the Artemis Bow, that's 5 gil you got for free! Seem easy? Remember, Karnak castle is full of goodies, and time is short. * Except for Shinryuu, Gilgame and OMEGA. No Red Mage is *that* crazy. >> Forbidden Machina 1: Prime Directive: Eliminate PROTOTYPE. This bad mutha can be found wandering aimlessly on or around Crescent Island. No level cap as of yet. >> Gilgame's Hoard: The goal is to reach the end of Gilgame's cave and make it out alive with all the money. You'll probably need Float. >> Dragoon's Glory: You're mission is simple: defeat Shinryuu. The level cap is currently set at 50, but may be changed... >> Forbidden Machina 2: Prime Directive: Eliminate OMEGA. Which SCCs can accomplish this? That's for you to find out... [Lvl. Cap: 50] >> Level Cap Alpha: For the strongest of the strong. W1: 10 W2: 15 W3: 20 (Excluding ExDeath) >> Level Cap Beta: For the second strongest of the strong. W1: 15 W2: 20 W3: 25 (Excluding ExDeath) --Solo Games------------------------------------------------------ Seeing as these are all the rage now (sorta), they oughta get their own mini help section. ------------------------------------------------------------------ >> Solo Mode: Think a certain class is teh roxorz? Try it solo. Choose your favorite and kill the other three characters yourself. Leave them dead. There are no "official" rules for this, but I highly recommend following the guidelines below. > Your three dead characters must be killed off in the first battle immediately after resting at an inn, using a tent, or using a healing pot or spring. However, you may NOT enter a boss battle as the first battle after resting, giving the boss more targets to attack. You must enter a random battle prior to the boss to kill them off. Alternatively, you may use the codes provided in section 4C to keep your unused characters dead at all times. [Sabin47, edited by me] > Make the three dead characters any class you wish as to allow them to kill themselves faster in the first battle after healing, but DO NOT make ANY of the dead characters a thief, a ninja, or a geomancer unless your main character is of that class. This is because even though they are dead, their innate abilities Caution (no back attacks), Firstatk (higher pre-emptive battle rate), and Antitrap (no damage on damage floors) are still in effect. No back attacks, more first attacks, and no damage floors in a non-thief, non-ninja, non-geomancer game dilutes the challenge and gives the class an edge it does not normally have. [Sabin47, edited by me] > All battles must be fought with just one character alive. ALL. Which character does not matter, just realize that some characters miss out on certain bosses and dungeons. - Bartz: Gilgamaesh (1) - Reina: Antolyon, Pyramid, Merugene (Mellusion) - Galuf: Titan, KimaBrain, Byurobolos - Faris: Pirate Cave, Antolyon > Since a solo SCC is about going through the game with a single unit of a certain Job, and not a single *character*, it's best to train another character to replace the one who is MIA. > Got zombie troubles? With three corpses trailing behind you everywhere you go, enemies are bound to zombify them at some point, slowing down the battle and possibly even killing you. There are solutions to this. The first and easiest is to use a code to keep the status of the three dead-weight characters set to "Dead". This kills two birds with one stone, as you'll be able to rest at inns and such without having to re-kill them each time. You may bypass rule #6 for this. (Note: Er, this apparently only stops ZombieBreath. I guess you could just hack in some Angel Rings too.) If you aren't using an emulator to play this, and haven't got a Gameshark, you could also buy three Angel Rings, and equip them on the dead ones. If this is too expensive, and you can live with zombies till Moore Village, you could buy the spell Break and have them petrify themselves with it. > Ignore Zombied allies. Do nothing to help them in battle, only cure them afterwards. Equipping a dead teammate with a weapon that will heal you and letting him/her be Zombified IS WRONG. Equipping them with rods and Wall Rings IS WRONG. ReflecTricking magic off of Zombied teammates IS ALSO WRONG. > Letting a Page 256 "kill" your level 5 Blue Mage teammate for you with Level 5 Death IS WRONG, ESPECIALLY IN A BLUE MAGE GAME. The same applies for all other Blue Magics. =========================================================================== 2B) < Comments > (Wherein each class' merits are discussed in brief.) Knight: The real powerhouse class. DblGrip allows them to cause extreme damage all throughout the game, at the cost of evade. Without it, they still cause enough damage to power by most bosses with ease, and can use shields to absorb some spells later on. No attack-all ability, so Neo-Exdeath might be a little tough, but their damage more than makes up for it. They have the additional challenge of trying to finish the game without fleeing from battle, to maintain the Braveblade's high attack power. Monk: The HP+ abilities are probably more helpful than any of their commands. Store can be used to get past counter-attacks, and kick solves the Hiryuu weed battle, but other than that, "attack" is the only thing you really need. Part blessing, part curse, Monk damage is based purely on strength and level. Thief: Getting these guys past Biblos is pure luck. Afterwards it's smooth sailing, up until the N-Zone... Black Mage: Four elements, multi target spells, Drain, Osmose, and rods make most fights cake. Some can be a little rough however, 'specially that Fire Crystal, requireing that you occasionally take a break from casting the spells that make the peoples fall down to inflict stabbity death instead. White Mage: Pre-Holy you have little or no offense. Which is practically the entire game. Great healing and defensive spells though, so you can hold out some. Draining punks like Biblos and Enkidou are pure hell. Blue Mage: The game's second most versatile mage job. Red Mage? A mere amatuer. Their direct-damage spells are sufficient to get them through until Aero 3 and Lvl 3 Flare are avaialble, at which point they coast along to an easy finish. They have good de-buffing spells, and at the end gain the game's best buffing spell. Throw in group/self healing that penetrates Reflect, rods, long-range sword attacks, Drains... the list just goes on and on. Great. Summoner: Getting Bahamut is probably hard, but Syldra, Odin, and Leviathan aren't too bad. Earlier parts of the game, up till Ifrit, don't look too tough. After Titan, things just solve themselves. Multi-target spells help immensely against Neo-Exdeath. Sorcerer: Sword Magic allows them to occasionally increase their damage without removing their shields. Otherwise it lets them drain HP or silence the enemy. Strong class, plenty of versatility. Red Mage: No trouble for most of the first world, but later RedX2 is an absolute necessity. Their versatility is both a blessing and a curse, switching between rods and swords quickly becomes a loathsome chore. Don't expect to breeze through this one, but don't expect too much pain either. Time Mage: Clubs and luck do early on, but you'll be grateful for Demi and Comet once they show up. Meteor isn't too hard to get either. Boring as heck though. Berserker: Well, since you have no control in battle, you have to manipulate your party's equipment, gain a ton of levels, and it's still all luck for some fights. Sandworm, Seal Guardians, Neo ExDeath... all require copious amounts of luck and planning. Mimic: Rods are more or less your whole offense against bosses. Otherwise it's just knives and potions. Interestingly enough, Item can be !Mimiced. Ninja: Ninjas are cool. And by cool, I mean totally sweet. Between their superb attack and !Throw, what can stand before the might of the ninja? Nothing, that's what. Image and Dustball are useful too, but really, I doubt you'll need to run much. Trainer: !Release is a one shot cannon that can be a pain to keep loaded. The damage however, can bring most bosses to their knees in a single round. !Control makes for super easy level gaining in Kuzar castle too. Geomancer: As they gain levels, new Terrain attacks are unlocked. The game never notifies you however, and you'll never know if you're one level away from having something truly nasty. Their attack is barely above that of a bard, and their terrain attacks don't always work on bosses (ex: Sol Cannon). On a positive note, Geomancers can pass through Exdeath's soupy mess and lava without taking damage. Pits reveal themselves before you and the spikes behind Istory Falls deal no damage. Hunter: Low HP is compensated for by strong, accurate, long range damage. Before bows, their animal calling power sees them through. !SShot dominates everything once obtained. Extremely underrated class. Bard: You don't start with songs, and your attacks cause little damage. May as well start the challenge at Crescent Island then, bypassing Biblos. Requiem and Charm Song (confusion) are the winners here, many of the other songs leave the singer performing it until he/she gets slapped out of it by the enemy... or an ally. Later boss fights feature long build up periods, raising all your stats to the max before striking with resounding fury. Samurai: !GilToss, supreme evade, and !F-Draw. I didn't think it could get any easier than this, but then I tried Chemist. Woah. Lancer: They can jump, they have shields, and they can drain... I foresee no difficulty. Dancer: The lowest HP of any class, an unreliable main offense, and medium strength. In their favor they have... Ribbons. Sword Dance is great, and the other three are moderately useful, but !Dance can be frustratingly random. The best strategy when faced with a difficult boss is to dance and hope lots of Sword Dances result. Chemist: Hands down, the BEST job in the game. These guys can do everything, and do it well. They mimic Haste and Protect with their drinks, and can make themselves near-invincible after several rounds of chugging potions and downing mixtures. Drain Kiss is absolutely broken in the first world, and is generally an effective means of healing later on. Grab a mixing chart and prepare to spend hours hunting down reagents. ___________________________________________________________________________ 3) Strategies "If you know, you can foresee. Learn and prepare for battle." - Bordam Daravon =========================================================================== 3A) < Basic Strategies > These are the absolute staples of gameplay, and apply to all jobs. If you're looking for Traveler or Mimic strats, look here. >> Bones 'n Stones: I really shouldn't have to say this, but most undead enemies can be killed with a Phoenix down. Potions (including Elixirs) and the Cure series of spells can also be used to damage them. Stone enemies, such as the Rock Statues in Galuf’s basement, can be killed with a single Soft. >> Bugged: Due to a bug, gaining a level will sometimes cause your damage with knife, bow, whip, and boomerang weapons to drop rather than increase. Anti-Magic bow and Maneater are exceptions. Maneater is mistakenly clasified as a spear. O_o; >> Artifacts: The Bone Mail, Dancing Dirk, Thief Knife, and Magic Lamp all have their uses, so make sure to get them. Only Knights get the Brave Blade, other classes should choose the Chicken Knife. Picking up some Flame rings in world one and Wall Rings in world two are generally good ideas too. Winged Shoes are a necessity for the N-Zone; buy four. The Lamp can be recharged either at the Great Sea Trench or at the waterfall. Face the spot you got it from and press the OK button. >> Bone Mail: Found in Dragon Valley, this light armor has the highest defense rating of any chest piece, and grants the wearer Undead status. HP restoring spells and items hurt (MP recovery is not affected), revival actions kill, Elixirs reduce HP to single digits but restore MP to full. Draining attacks on the wearer are reversed. The Black spell "Doom" restores HP to full. There is no way to revive the wearer. Stats: -5 Vit, +30 Def, +5 MagDef, +3 Weight Absorb: Bio; Half: Ice; Weak: Flame, Holy; Immune: Berserk, Confusion, Aging, Poison, Blind, Regen* *Except from the Protect Ring Most of us have been turned off to this thing because of the awkwardness of healing with it on. In SCCs, this is less of a problem. In some SSCCs, it can be downright godly! RDM, BUM, KNT, SOR can all heal using Flame Rings and a Fire elemental attack. >> The Reflect Trick: Reflecting a multi-target spell off of your entire party will double it's effect if it hits a single target. The Fire, Ice, Bolt, and Aero series can be boosted this way, as well as Bio. Very handy for the mages in Blue, as their White Wind spell penetrates reflect. >> Wanna see my 'Fire Rod'?: To break a rod during battle, simply push up in the Item menu to view your equipped weapon, replace it with an appropriate rod, and select the rod (which should now be equipped) as an item. Note that only classes which equip rods can do this. "It's an old magical principle -- it's even filtered down into RPG systems -- that magic, while taking a lot of effort, can be 'stored' -- in a staff, for example. No doubt a wizard spends a little time each day charging up his staff, although you go blind if you do it too much, of course." -- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett) Breaking a Fire, Ice, or Thunder rod will release Fire, Ice, or Bolt 3. Venom rods release Bio, and the Light (Lumino) staff releases Holy. >> Ollivander's Revenge: Staves are probably the rarest weapons in FFV, however, there are a few rare and handy staves to be found. The Lumino Staff is won from Metamorpha's who die in their normal form. It's Holy elemental, and breaking it casts Holy! As a monster basher it's only slightly better than a Flail though, until higher levels. The Judge Staff is stolen from T-Wrecks (?) around Lugor in world three. A back row weapon, Holy elemental, it casts Dispel when used as an item. The Sage Staff is one of the legendary weapons sealed in Kuzar Castle. Long range, strong vs. undead, boosts Holy, and casts Raise when used in battle. Groovy. >> Low Levels: Flame, Thunder, Surge Cannon, and a few other boss attacks are percentage based. For healing classes it may be best to approach these bosses at lower levels than usual. Lower HP means less damage to heal after all. >> Liquid Flame: This boss alternates between three forms, each with a different attack pattern. Inflicting damage causes it to counter with Flame or Fire 2 and change shape. Fire 2 is often lethal at this stage, so be careful. The humanoid and whirlwind forms are vulnerable to ice, to which the hand is immune. In Whirlwind form it casts Fire 2 on itself to heal. Let it do that until it's MP is exhausted. Attack, with whatever you've got, and heal up when it reverts to a whirlwind. >> Biblos: A real roadblock of a battle. He attacks with Thread, Magic Hammer, Sonic Wave, a moderate physical, and the occasional WindSlash. He counters every attack with Protect, and after dropping below 800 or so HP, a 300 damage Drain spell. Combined with Sonic Wave, this can make him very hard to damage. For some time it was believed his MP was restored when he cast Drain. This has proved false. Running him out of his 1000 MP is still difficult, but no longer thought to be impossible. >> Sol Cannon: Kill the Launchers ASAP to prevent too many people from getting hit with Old, or just equip Angel Rings. Heal with HiPotions or Elixirs after Surge Beam, if your damage isn't good, you'll need lots. The beam deals damage equal to half your max HP and inflicts Slip. >> Big Bridge: Use Mage Mashers or Silence to stop his spells. Thanks to RainingFlame for this one. >> Hiryuu Plant: There are various ways to go here. You can keep killing flowers and strike the weed whenever the chance arises, or you can concentrate on keeping the most annoying of the flowers dead. >> Atomos: Atomos only attacks with Comet if the whole party is alive. Let one die, and have the others attack. When the slain reaches Atomos, revive him/her and let another die. Repeat as necessary, you should finish with time to spare. >> Seal Guardians: The top crystal is Fire, the right Water, the far left Wind, and the bottom Earth. They nullify all other elements, and absorb their own elements. After taking more than 4500 damage each crystal will repeatedly cast it's spell, Fire 3 being the strongest. Before a crystal reaches that point, let everyone's meter fill, then wait for the crystal's next turn and rush it. [From Sabin47] Equip Flame Rings and damage the Fire Crystal till it starts casting Fire 3, healing you. Apparently, Flame Rings do *not* make you weak to Aquarake, nor do Coral Rings absorb it. I'd like to add that Bone Mail can make one person invincible to the crystals' attacks. Low-HP classes like Red Mage should try this. >> Exdeath: Wall Rings are important here. He counters most attacks with Dispel, so don't rely on other barriers to keep you alive. Exdeath starts out using Earth Shaker, Demi, Condemned, Lvl. 3 Flare, and a physical attack. Not a huge threat, as he's no faster than you are. Stay healed. After dropping about half his HP, he starts to cast third tier black magic on you, all of which can be reflected back at him. He soon starts casting two of these at once, hastening his own demise, and throwing in the occasional Vacuum Wave. When he's near death Exdeath alternates between Vac Wave, his attack, and black magic, often using two in a row. At this point there's little you can do besides try and revive the fallen and hopefully get a few attacks in. >> WoodSprite: Wall Ring + Bone Mail. Keep attacking, every Drain heals you and hurts her. >> Azulmagia: Wall Rings again. >> Catastrophe: If you have float, Catastrophe will waste all it's turns trying to cancel it with Gravity 100. Which can be reflected. Other classes will have to level up enough to survive a few 1000 damage Earthshakers. Winged shoes help greatly. Another way to get float is to charm a GhilaCat on North Mountain and walk *all* the way back without using a Tent, Cottage, Pot, Spring or Bed. Put a Wall Ring on somebody and relax... >> Halikarnassos: Wall Rings and Maiden's Kisses. >> Twin Tania: Equip Coral Rings and attack, or equip Wall Rings and cast spells. When it charges up Gigaflare, summon Odin via the Lamp. >> Neo Exdeath: The Magic Lamp clears out two target points and gives you some cover till the first Almagest. Keep it up till you get Titan. When the laws of physics are broken, he's charging Grand Cross, just heal what status effects you can and hope it isn't Old. When he shakes, he's powering up Almagest, which you need about 1800 HP to survive consistently. Afterwards, heal up and continue attacking, making sure to spread the damage on the last two points evenly. You don't want to leave a target point standing alone; the last target point will cast Meteor every turn, and you *still* have to deal with Almagest. >> Solo Difficulties: Before attempting a solo game, remember that there are MANY attacks that can effectively DESTROY you. Confusion, paralysis, Hurricane, Death Sentence, Petrify, Death etc., will all kill your lone champion. Expect to rack up many resets on bosses like Archaeoavis and Exdeath. Hell, even STOKER becomes unbearbly hard whn alone. =========================================================================== 3B) < Job Specifics: Wind Crystal Jobs > These are the first jobs you get, and for those playing Anthology without a Gameshark, the only jobs acquired early enough for a "real" SCC. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Knight / Difficulty: Fair =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Two-Fisted Monkey Style: DblGrip allows you to deal double damage, but removes your shield. You can, however, equip a shield during battle if you're taking too much damage. Remove the shield and you're back to dealing double damage! >> Sword of Mercy: Outfit your party with Flame Rings and Flame Tongues (the sword) and you can heal by attacking each other. Ice/Flame shields/brands don't work as well. >> Honor and Courage: Never flee from battle, regardless of how bad the situation. If you've never run, the Brave Blade will have 180 attack power. And that's a lot. >> Neo Exdeath: Toss on Shields and Hermes Shoes until you've got it down to just 2 parts. By that point, he'll stop doing those vacuum waves so frequently, so you can just go berserker style and beat him without shields. [From DragonElemental] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Monk / Difficulty: Easy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Punch Arts Rule: Against enemies who counter, use !Store. Against the Dragonweed, use kick. If your damage seems a little low, level up. If you need more damage in the N-Zone, win Kaiser Knuckles from the FallGuards inside Istory Falls. That about covers it for Monk strategy... >> Unequip what?: Monks can't punch each other to cure each other of confusion and sleep. 'Would you like me to pummel him back to health?' >> Solo: Against multiple enemies, it may be worth defending and letting Counter do the work for you. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Thief / Difficulty: Very Hard =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Treasure Hunting: Thieves can steal right from the beginning. Here's what you should try to get. (Courtesy of Sabin47 and Silktail) Wyvern (Waltz Tower) = Mithril Dagger (common) Sorcerer (Karnak Castle) = Mage Masher (common) Poltergeist (Fire Ship) = HiPotion (common), FenixDown (rare) Gigas (Karnak Castle*) = Elixir (common!) Zuu (Karnak, World Map) = Elixir (rare)** Page 32 (Ancient Library) = Green Beret (rare) Page 256 (Ancient Library) = StealthRobe(rare), hipotion(common) Red Dragon (Barrier Tower*) = Flame Ring (rare) Blockhead (Exdeath Continent) = Elixer (rare)** Druid (Shoat Cave) = Angel Ring Statue (Bal Castle Basement) = Twinlance (rare) Red Imp (Island Shrine) = Mirage Vest (rare) * Monster-in-a-box. ** It is the only steal, so any successful steal will be an elixir. >> Your GP and your HP!: Try to have Mug before taking on LiquidFlame. The Gigas enemies in Karnak castle have Elixirs to steal, and you don't want to waste time not causing damage. As you progress, keep Mug equipped to steal salable items while still murdering thy foes. Crescent, in world one, is a fantastic place to steal. A Silver Bow sells for 750, a Battle Axe sells for 375, and the Warhammer sells for a whopping 3600! World two has it's own thief’s paradise, the Barrier tower. Various powerful weapons like Warhammr,Poisonax and Trident which sell for 3600-6000ish a pop can be found here, in addition to Wall Rings, those oh-so-useful SCC staples. >> Biblos: Like other low-damage jobs, Thieves have trouble here. To get by, enter with a large stock of HiPotions and some high levels. Attack him, causing Counter-Protect, until you reach the Drain phase. If your knives are still dealing 100 damage a hit, try to kill him. Otherwise just try to deplete his MP to the point where he can no longer cast Drain and finish him off then. >> The Ramuh Trick: Steal from Ramuh and Flee. He carries a HiPotion and is a very common encounter. >> Poltergeist Report: Onboard the Fire Ship, in the room containing the Thief Glove, every random battle contains a single poltergeist. Its common steal is a HiPotion, making it even easier to stock up than with Ramuh. >> Playing with Power: The Thief Glove double's !Steal's success rate. I wish I knew if this affected Mug. >> Barrier Tower: Win four wall rings from the Wall Knights, equip them, and open the chest with the Red Dragon. Steal it's Flame Ring (rare) and Flee. Keep repeating this till you have four Flame Rings! [From Sabin47] Twin Lances and speed should do for Atomos. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Black Mage / Difficulty: Easy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Hadoken?: Third tier elemental spells cause more damage than Flare when powered by the appropriate rod. They also have a shorter charge time and animation, making them better in various situations, such as Odin. Flare pierces magic defense (not Shell) and puts up predictable numbers. >> Reflect: You'll need at least one Wall Ring to get by enemies with reflect status. Alternately you could use Drain, but it's not as effective. >> Galura: If you can't win this, try getting a Fire Rod or two from the Rikald Mage enemies in the lower tower. >> Seal Guardians: The Fire Crystal has to be taken down with physical attacks, so bring a Flame Ring if you want an easy time. >> Necrophobia: You can try out the reflect trick here, but you'll sometimes hit Necrophobe for no damage. >> Flames of Rebirth: Equip Flame Rings and cast Fire spells on the party to heal! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= White Mage / Difficulty: Extreme =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> White Mage's Oath: White Mages are limited to weak staves for weapons. For most of world 1 and 2 you will be hitting for less than 100 damage. At the far end of Moore Forest there is a Morningstar, upping one character's damage to perhaps 300. This does not improve again until after getting the airship in world three, when more Morningstars may be purchased at Mirage. >> The Book-ie Man: Their pitiful attack power makes it impossible for White Mages to deal enough damage to get by Drain. Their only option then, is to run Biblos out of MP. This is no longer viewed as impossible, but you may need to go as high as level 30, with a large supply of healing items to get by. >> Hoover? DAMN!: Defeating Atomos with White Mages is nearly impossible. Even with their superior healing and revival, tons of Elixirs, Ethers, and HiPotions besides, it is very hard, perhaps impossible, to out last Atomos' MP supply, and a WM team's damage is nowhere near sufficient for a blitz offensive. If you wish to walk the path of the White Mage, this may well be your journey's end. *UPDATE* Not only has Atomos been bested in a White Mage SCC, he was been beaten in a *SOLO* White Mage SCC! >> The Gray Mage: If you want to experience the White Mage SCC, but feel you have better things to do with your time than beat on a huge dimensional gateway with little wooden sticks for years and years (read: fighting Atomos), go ahead and cheat. Change into monks, or something, and fudge past it. Just remember, it's not "true" victory till you've defeated *every* boss without cheating. Keep an extra save in case you someday decide to try again. >> Sticks of DOOM(tm): The flails you buy/find in the first world will be your weapons for about 4/5 of the game. May as well get to know them. Flails are not affected by strength or defense, but strike randomly between a low and high damage, are back row OK, and often miss. Bosses with extremely high defense will take full damage from your Doom Sticks(tm), including Archaeo Avis and Mellusion. Berserk still increases your damage, while Protect still reduces it. >> New Weapon, Old Trick: You can win a rare staff in world two. The Lumino Staff is won from Metamorphas in their original form. Holy elemental, and when broken it casts Holy! As a monster basher it's only slightly better than a Flail though. >> Sol Cannon: The second REALLY difficult boss fight. Be sure to have plenty of time on your hands for this one; it took me over an hour to finish. Kill off the Launchers ASAP and cure their Old with Esuna. I had about 20 resets before the Launchers staggered their attacks and made it bearable. Once the Launchers are dead, just smack away and heal with Cure2 as needed. Use Ethers (NOT Elixirs) to refill MP, unless you need the HP too...or run out...which is what happened to me. (ILS: Instead of curing Old, you COULD buy four AngelRings. Kinda hard to make money with WHMs of course.) >> Titan: Before you do ANYTHING, go to North Mountain, Charm a Ghilacat, and wait for it to cast Float on your people. Then, WITHOUT sleeping at an inn or using a healing pot, hit Titan over and over. Cast Safe to make his physicals only deal about 80. Laugh as his final Earth Shaker misses everybody not on the ground. >> Dragon Bulb: This fight is a pain, not because it's hard but because it takes a long time. You can charm each and every one of the little baby plants, and that's what you should do, especially the Confusion, Darkness, and Old plants. They'll likely kill each other, allowing you to smack the boss with your Doom Sticks (tm). Just repeat the charming once the babies either become uncharmed or respawn. This fight took me 45 minutes. >> Gilgamesh & Ekindoh: Ugh. Gilgamesh is no problem; he just hits you and occasionally Wind Slashes for paltry damage. Ekindoh...is another matter. He appears once Gilgamesh is halfway dead and heals him fully with WhiteWind. You can go about this one two ways, both requiring extreme patience: you can 1) Keep hitting Gilgamesh, keep watching Ekindoh heal him, and eventually run Ekindoh out of MP or 2) Keep hitting Ekindoh, hope he doesn't heal himself via BloodSuck, and kill him off. I chose the latter. Throw Safe and Shell on everybody so you last longer, plus I think Shell helps avoid the dreaded BloodSuck. Or you can try combining the two by causing Ekindoh to BloodSuck until he's out of MP, but that would take days, probably. At least Ekindoh doesn't have a counter-BloodSuck AI. Expect to battle for more than an hour. The last REALLY difficult boss fight. >> Seal Guardians: After Atomos, you're damn right there better be an easy boss fight. Not ONLY do you now have Cure3, but you ALSO have a Morningstar, a.k.a Super Doom Stick (tm). Meaning you can deal 500 now, in some cases. This fight is pie; just cast Safe on everybody, then shell on everybody, then focus on one guardian at a time. Their desperation attacks should only deal about 300 to each person so when you get below 300, Cure3s to heal up. Try to have the Morningstar equipped person attack every turn, to make it go faster. >> X-Death II: Ow. This fight sucks. Safe and Shell are by and large your saviors, keeping damage minimal. Put your Wall Ring on somebody and hope he casts Lvl. 3 Flare a lot. Then hope he reflects nasty Black Magic onto himself. Also hope he keeps Vacuum Punches (or whatever) to a bare minimum. Barring that, hit with sticks and keep healed. Probably a half-hour exercise in patience. >> Looking Ahead: World Three is relatively smooth sailing. The Pyramid is full of undead and Charm-ables, Mellusion can be brought low by your sticks of DOOM, and Morningstars can then be bought at Mirage. Check the Fork Tower section for ways to get your clean little miracle worker hands on Holy. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Blue Mage / Difficulty: Moderate =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==--=-= >> The Lost Magiks: White Wind can be learned in Exdeath's castle by confusing one of the rabbit enemies (Arage) with the Dancing Dirk. Ditto for Fusion and Guardian. Guardian can also be leaned by using the Wonder Wand to give Azulmagia or a Stingray reflect. Maybe. >> Boost: Air Lancets, and the Magus Rod, boost wind elemental damage. >> And that WORKS?: When you reach a boss, try out all your spells, especially those that deal percent damage, like Missile and Doom Claw. Many bosses can be hit with these, and negative status spells as well. >> Class is in Session: To learn a spell, it must first affect you, then you must survive the battle. Watch your levels. To learn level X spells, you must be HIT with them. Not so fun if it's Lvl. 5 Doom. >> Glitchy: Blue Magic is not affected by silence. Booya. >> Level Check: Your party's levels are important. Going too high can hinder your collecting of Lvl. X spells. Bring someone that can be hit by Lvl. 5 Doom into the library, but only one. Send someone who can be hit by Lvl. 3 Flare against Exdeath in his castle (anyone else should have a Wall Ring.) Check the enemy's levels too, sometimes you can decimate entire groups with one spell. If the enemy is the same level as your characters, try Goblin Punch. >> Rondo of Blood: Blood Suck drains ((MaxHP-CurrentHP)/2) HP. "????" deals (MaxHP-CurrentHP) damage. White Wind heals the entire party by as much HP as the caster currently possesses, and penetrates Reflect. Nifty. >> Study Hard: DragonElemental has crafted a nifty Blue Magic FAQ tailored for SCCs. < http://www15.brinkster.com/ChaoticOne/FFVBlueMagicFAQ.txt > >> Big Blue: Desert enemies, including the boss Sandworm, take enormous damage from Aquarake. You can usually get a one-shot-kill with this spell, making leveling in the desert a breeze. >> Atomos: Cast Black Shock and Level 5 Doom. >> Necrophobia: Reflect Aero 3 or just cast Aquarake. >> Solo: Starting out, gain some levels and learn Vampire and Goblin Punch. These will be your key spells till Aero 2 and Emission. Get a Flame Ring and a Fire Rod and you'll be pretty well off for everything but Archeoavis. For that, you will need to use Aquarake or Goblin Punch. The Guardian/HuntingKnife is a MUST. =========================================================================== 3C) Job Specifics: Water Crystal Jobs These jobs are obtained at Worus Tower, after defeating Garula. Which might still be early enough for a satisfying SCC... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Summoner / Difficulty: Easy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Boco the Mighty: Chocobo is a physical attack, and can be used against foes immune to magic, such as ArchaeoAvis. Occasionally, Choco Kick will be replaced by Fat Choco, which does *way* more damage. >> Remora: Inflicts Stop or Paralysis. If you see the fish, it worked. >> Quake with... FEAR!: The Earth Robe (GaiaGear) boosts Earth elemental damage. That means Titan, yo. >> Golem: Try throwing HiPotions at the dragons accosting him. Phoenix Downs are ineffective. >> Odin: Shoat. >> Leviathan: Coral Rings and Golem. >> Bahamut: Golem and Carbuncle cancel most of the bad things he tries to do to you. Flame or Angel Rings can help with the rest. >> Second Chances: If you miss a summon, there is a chance you can find it again in the N-Zone. Golem can be found where Omega hangs out. Ramuh wanders the trees of the Dimensional Castle. Shoat has been spotted by the waterfalls. (Please report his location if you spot him.) >> Freebie: The final Summoner skill, !Call or !Summon, chooses randomly from spells you already know. With four Callers, summoning something powerful is fairly common. [From Sabin47] If you elect NOT to learn some of the weaker summons (Shiva & Remora), you improve your chances of scoring big with this. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Sorcerer / Difficulty: Medium-Easy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Element Dissolve: Casting Sword Magic on an elemental weapon changes the weapon's element. Mute Sword gives non-elemental properties to elemental weapons. Further, third tier sword spells and Holy Sword will deal instant death to enemies weak to that element. [Cred: RainingFlame] >> LiquidFlame: Your ice powered attacks will always miss the hand form, so leave one character neutral to get by. >> Up Your Arse(nal): Additional Enhancers can be stolen from sword dancers in the Dimensional Castle section of the N-Zone. >> Sword of Mercy?: Flame Rings and Fire X Sword can be used to heal, but you have to go through a shield and waste a turn powering up. Maybe not so useful, due to Drain Sword, but then again, you can't drain the undead, and most undead are weak to flame... =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Red Mage / Difficulty: Medium =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >> Jack-of-All-Trades: And master of none. Red Mages are versatile. They
   can fight to conserve MP, but don't take hits well. They can hide in the
   back row and attack with spells, but their damage isn't great and their
   MP won't hold out for long. Get used to switching rows and weapons
   often. Spend time near the dungeon entrance acquainting yourself with
   each monster's strengths and weaknesses, and strike accordingly.

>> Status Effects: Don't ignore these, they can be very helpful when
   conserving MP. Even in the depths of the N-Zone, many enemies can still
   be put to sleep or turned into frogs.

>> Twink Out: Carry a variety of equipment for use in different
   circumstances. Magic and strength boosts will make your life much easier
   during those long fights, breaking rods can get you out of many a tight
   pinch. Make sure to buy plenty of rods before world two.

>> Hiryuu Plant: Buy lots and lots of rods. Elemental rods from world one
   are preferable, but your supply is limited. Kill the flowers and break
   as many rods as you can spare, and when the flowers revive break Venom
   rods, which don't multi-target.

>> Atomos: Cast sleep and revive whoever died. Attack with spells.

>> Crystal Guardians: Get RedX2 and either 800+ HP, or a Flame Ring before
   attempting this. Stay back and attack with doubled Fire 2, using double
   Cure 2 to heal to full after every spell. When it's down to just the
   Fire Crystal, switch to swords and hack it up.

>> WoodSprite: Keep her silenced. Attack.

>> Neo Exdeath: Level 45 and more than a hundred rods should do nicely.
   Standard tactics really, to conserve Elixirs, only use them on those who
   need MP. If you need more slack, you can let two die from Almagest and
   use RedX2 to revive them both.

>> Solo: I've yet to beat this challenge, but here are some basic tips.

         Frog + Dancing Dirk = infinite MP
         Flame Ring + Flame Rod = stronger healing than Cure 2
         High levels + Rune Edge = POWER

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Time Mage / Difficulty: Lowish
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Buff: Before Haste 2, start boss fights with Slow, it's like giving the
   entire team Haste at once. When casting Haste, have each character cast
   it on themselves first, this speeds their next up turn greatly.

>> iT wERKS?: Many bosses can be hit with Slow. Some can even be hit with
   Stop and Demi. Experiment, you may get lucky and discover a weakness.

>> In Yo' face X-Magic: Quick is a nifty spell; it lets you act twice per
   turn, letting you heal, buff, or attack twice as fast as usual.

>> NeoExDeath: Meteo really sucks in this fight. There are several 'dummy'
   targets, aside from the four usual target points, which Meteo may hit,
   perhaps leaving Neo undamaged. Each target point you kill becomes
   another 'dummy' too, I think; Meteo will connect less and less as the
   fight progresses. You may want to switch to Comet for the last one or
   two target points. Remember to use Quick to increase your damage.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Berserker / Status: Possible!
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Abandonment: Berserkers are naturally immune to confusion and berserk.
   The former is nice, but it's a shame about the second, as the only
   effect for berserkers would be an increase in damge. Axes, being
   rando-damage weapons, are immune to the effects of Aging status.

>> Death Scythe: You can win some nifty axes from the humanoid enemies on
   Crescent Island. Get four, because they're essential later on.

>> Whack-a-Mole: Sandworm can be a serious problem; Berserkers are just too
   stupid to hit the right hole most of the time. High levels will be
   necessary, perhaps in the thirties, which is difficult to reach at this
   point. At least two people attempted this one, neither successfully,
   before Setzer finally got lucky. Setzer getting lucky? Do tell...

>> Seal Guardians: Equip your death axes and pray for luck.

>> Halikarnasos: His first fit of laughter will frog thy team, but worry
   not, for his second chortle shall cure thee.

>> The Final Bout: Steal Aegis shields from the Gorchimeras in the Crystal
   section, and Thor Hammers from the Death Claws in the castle section of
   the N-Zone, and get to level 65 or higher. With these things and luck,
   you should triumph.

 -NOTE------------------------------------------------------------
   The crystal shard for the Mimic job is aquired in world three,
   at the bottom of the sunken Walz Tower, after defeating Gogo.
   I wouldn't bother trying this one without the all jobs code.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Mimic / Status: ????
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Copycat: Sabin47 writes:

  "!Mimic performs the same action of the previous character in you
   party, on the same target. If the target no longer exists, anothertarget
   in the same party as the original target (enemy or ally) is chosen. It
   does not consume any items or MP (the MP part doesn't matter in a Mime
   SCC). If !Mimic is chosen at the start of battle, before any commands
   have been inputted, the character simply defends. The damage of the
   attacks performed by the !Mimic command depends on the character
   performing them. Finally, if it is a normal attack, the weapon of the
   character attacking is used, along with their side-effects, such as the
   !Dance of the dancing dirk and the !Mug of the thief knife. In other
   words, if Butz attacks with the Chicken Knife, and Lenna, who is
   equipped with the Dancing Dirk, uses !Mime immediately after, she will
   attack with the Dancing Dirk, not the Chicken Knife, and there is a
   chance she will use !Dance. The !Dance used by the Dancing Dirk cannot
   be copied. Hope this clears things up."

===========================================================================
3D) Job Specifics: Fire  Crystal Jobs

  These three jobs are gotten after the events at Karnak castle. They've
  already missed one of the more interesting bosses, LiquidFlame.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Ninja / Difficulty: Low
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> WOH-PAH!!: Keep Excalipur. It can be thrown for good damage. Ash/Soot
   can also be thrown, but for very little damage.

>> Facts: I couldn't think of anything to add here, so I rounded up some
   facts on ninjas from the internet.
    1.    Ninjas are mammals.
    2.    Ninjas fight ALL the time.
    3.    The purpose of the ninja is to flip out and kill people.

>> Two-Fisted Monkey Style: Place the Chicken Knife in the bottom hand,
   otherwise you can lose both attacks against bosses. When the DancingDirk
   causes !Dance to be used, it cancels *both* attacks... unless the dance
   is a Sword Dance. Then Sword Dance lands *TWO* hits at 4x damage.

>> Verboten!: Duplicating items with the Thief Knife is FORBIDDEN.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Trainer / Difficulty: Moderate
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Zoology 101: Strong ammo for your monster cannon. Big thanks to
   matthewcarter50 for all his great info!

   ::World One::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
   |   Enemy Name     |    Location      |       Release       |
   |===========================================================|
   | Goblin           | Tycoon Region    | Flare; ~1000 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Bandersnatch     | Walz Tower Area  | Blaster; Death      |
   |===========================================================|
   | UndeadRusk       | Ship's Graveyard | Break; Stone        |
   |===========================================================|
   | Page 128         | Great Library    | Fight; 900-1200     |
   |===========================================================|
   | DoubleLiz        | Jacohl, Crescent | Fight; 1000-1200    |
   |===========================================================|
   | Sand Bear        | Sand Tides       | Fight; ~2300 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Mini-Dragon      | Istory Region    | Holy; ~2600 damage  |
   |===========================================================|
   |__________________|__________________|_____________________|

   ::World Two::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
   | Jail Bear        | Exdeath's Prison | Fight; ~1800 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Lopros           | Moogle Caves     | 25% of MaxHP; Wind  |
   |===========================================================|
   | Kuzar            | Kuzar Area       | Fight; ~2500 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | IronDress        | Cave to Shoat    | Fight; ~5500 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Yellow Dragon    | Exdeath's Castle | 25% of MaxHP; Bolt  |
   |===========================================================|
   | Faerie Orc       | Lugor Area       | Cure 3; heals party |
   |===========================================================|
   |__________________|__________________|_____________________|

   ::World Three::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
   | Barrete          | Sand Tides       | Fight; ~4400 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Giant Bird       | Solitary I. Sea  | 25% of MaxHP; Wind  |
   |===========================================================|
   | IronDress        |Cave to Istory F. | Fight; ~5500 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   | Great Dragon     | N-Zone Waterfall | Fight; ~9999 damage |
   |===========================================================|
   |__________________|__________________|_____________________|

>> Mind Control: Controlled enemies can be made to kill themselves with
   magic, or even better, heal your party for free. WhirlDemons and Arages
   are great examples. SheildDragons are even better, have them kill
   themselves for an easy 2500 exp as early as world two!

>> Whip it Good: Non-elemantal whips paralyze enemies when they hit, and
   are back row OK. !Tame has the same effect, but only on animal enemies.
   Undead, human, and mechanical enemies are immune. Waste of time.

>> For Ayla eat?: Catch a frog and bring it to the man down the well in
   Kelb Village for the Kornago Gourd. You only have to reduce the enemies
   HP to less than 1/2 to catch monsters with this equipped.

>> Puroboros: Control them and let them Exploder themselves to death.

>> Fruminous Bandersnatch?: It's Blaster can be use to kill Galura and
   a few other bosses instantly. And that's all I know.

>> Exdeath: Release three YellowDragons and attack. Catching YellowDragons
   is easy, just control them and have them use Hurricane on themselves.
   Just don't release Butz's pet because of...

>> Antlion: If you released all your pets on Exdeath, you can still get a
   goblin from the chest in Beginner’s House in Tule. Unless you've already
   killed it. In which case, I hope you have HiPotions.

>> Blue Stinger: The Dragon Beard, the game's strongest whip, is won from
   the Stingray enemies in the seas north of Walz in world three.

>> Fork Tower: A single Trainer with the Fire Bute, Elf Cape, and lots of
   HiPotions, can beat Minotaur by him/herself. The other three can take
   Omni. Release a monster that causes berserk. Follow it up with AirWings
   and attacks.

>> Exdeath/NeoExdeath: You will probably want to save your pets for Neo, so
   prepare for a longish fight with the tree form.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Geomancer / Difficulty: Medium
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Level up: If !Earth isn't being kind to you, try gaining some levels.
   You may unlock a new terrain attack.

>> Sol Cannon: You're going to need a lot of Elixirs. !Earth kills the
   Launchers handily, but the main cannon must be taken out with weak knife
   attacks.

>> Boost: Air Lancets boost wind elemental damage, which is the most
   common element in !Earth.

>> Omniscient: "Send two for magic side. Equipped 2 wall rings,mage slasher
   and air lancet. Mage slasher user attacked himself until i got reflected
   mute. Then the other character used earth(1500+ damage)." [Cred: Maqur]

>> Rune Chime: The game's best bell, the Rune Chime, is dropped by
   Cycloskulls (Bardandells) in the Lonkan Ruins section of the Cleft of
   Dimensions. Boosts wind damage and scores critical hits by using MP,
   like the Rune Blade.

>> Faery Powah!: The Tinkerbell is won from Twin Tania by killing it when
   it isn't charging Gigaflare.

 -NOTE------------------------------------------------------------
   The crystal shards for these next two jobs are received from
   the black chocobo on Crescent Island. What's noteworthy about
   this is that it technically allows Bards to skip Biblos if
   they want to.
 -----------------------------------------------------------------

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Hunter / Difficulty: Easy
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Critters: Before bows, strategy revolves around your animal pals. New
   critters are released as your hunters gain levels, but you won't
   know till you see one. Nightingale is fairly common, and not only does
   it recover a good amount of HP, but it also cures minor status effects.

>> Firepower: Firebow. Flame Ring. Figure it out.

>> LiquiFlame: Defeat it in it's Tornado form to receive a Fire Bow.

>> Chicken Shot: !SShot cancels the Chicken Knife's Flee effect.

>> Upgrades: AvisKiller (or AbSplitter) bows can be stolen from the Tote
   Avis enemies inside Solitary Island and the Artemis bow is found behind
   Istory Falls. AvisKillers always critical hit against Zuu types, while
   the Artemis critical hits against ground dwellers, such as LandCrawlers.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Bard / Difficulty: Very Hard?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Duck and Cover: Against bosses, your first order of business is to Hide.
   Crawl under a rock, assume the fetal position, and cover the back of
   your neck with your face. Do this until the boss runs out of MP. Have
   lunch, do some yard work, write a novel, whatever. Come back when you're
   done and see if the boss is out of MP. Of course, this only helps if the
   boss uses MP for it's attacks...

>> Shadow of Edward: For a while after returning from Hiding, enemy
   attacks will fail to hit you. The first spell or special attack
   used by the enemy will cancel the effect, meaning that physical only
   bosses such as the Adamantaimai can't touch you. It's up to you whether
   or not you will exploit this glitch, but I recomend avoiding it.
   [Credit: matthewcarter50]

>> Melody of Lute: Most harps deal percentage damage based on the enemy's
   current HP. You'll never kill anything with one, but harps can speed the
   slaying of beasts with high HP, and a few bosses. They miss often too.

   ~ Silver Harp: 1/16 of current HP
   ~ Dream Harp : 2/16 of current HP
   ~ Lamia Harp : 3/16 of current HP
   ~ Apollo Harp: Magic based damage; reduced by Shell;
                  Strong vs. Undead & Dragons
   [Credit: Sabin47, Alanna82, Silktail]

>> Practice makes Perfect: You'll need to master the piano to get your
   final two songs. Here's the list: Tule, Kerwin, Karnak, Jacohl, Crescent
   Town, Lugor, Moore Village, and Mirage Village.

>> Songs: Continually means until the Bard gets hit, dies or is silenced.
    This can be from the enemy or from an ally. You retain the effect after
    the singing stops. You can't sing while silenced.

   Love Song: Inflicts Stop on all foes. It's hard to tell sometimes
    though, as it can wear off quickly or slowly. Learn from the bard in
    Istory Village. Some bosses are hit by this too. Two stagger their
    songs, the rest hit. Puroboros, ChimeraBrain, Titan, and DragonBulbs
    can all be beaten this way.

   Speed Song: Continually raises teammates' agility. Surgate Caste, Zeza's
    room.

   Power Song: Continually raises teammates' strength. Bard in Crescent,
    play every piano but one and show him your skill.

   Hero Song/LVL Song: Continually raises teammates' levels, raising your
    damage and the power of Regen. Bard in Crescent, play every piano and
    show him your skill.

   Vital Song/Str. Song: Gives the team Regen, see above. Bard in Crescent.

   Charm Song/TemptSong: Confuses all enemies, and works pretty often. Bard
    in Lix Village.

   Requiem: Damage to all undead enemies based on your Magic stat. Dancing
    werewolf in Kelb Village

>> LiquidFlame: Follow the basic strat, and remember that you may need a
   lot of Tonic.

>> Sol Cannon: Get Angel Rings to stop the Launchers from Aging you, then
   kill them. When a Surge Beam approaches, try to Hide. According to
   Sabin47, the cannon soon becomes much too fast to hide from.

>> Archeoavis: Attack. You're gonna need a whole lot of Elixirs.

>> Atomos: Hide. Wait for it to exhaust it's enormous MP count. It takes
   hours, but what else can you really do?

>> ExDeath & NeoExDeath: Equip haste shoes and spend the ExDeath battle
   buffing your team to max stats. Finish off the tree form and blow away
   Neo with the true power of your Bard-dom. When Almaguest or Grand Cross
   approach, just hide.

===========================================================================
3E) Job Specifics: Earth Crystal Jobs

  These four jobs are received from the Earth crystal after Exdeath is
  released. They've missed a third of the game already...

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Samurai / Difficulty: Super Easy
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Cheap Shot: I've been testing !GilToss a bit and found this:

     Money Expended = Level * 50 (For each target hit.)

     Damage = (Level + 10 - Defense) * 150 (Defense being the enemy's.)

   If you don't have the money, you deal no damage. If there are four
   enemies, and you only have money enough for three, the fourth will take
   no damage. Otherwise, the damage goes up by 150 for every level gained.
   As you can see, using !GilToss on a lone enemy is a pretty good deal.
   Just avoid using it in random fights and money should never be a
   problem. Though this won't come up during a SCC, raising you're level
   with !Mix or !Sing will increase the damage done by !GilToss, without
   increasing the money spent.

>> Soul of the Samurai: Like fists and some bows, katanas critical hit
   often, an effect that is preserved when using Sword Dance and Sword
   Slap, among others. If a katana is similar in strength to a knife,
   choose the katana.

>> Divine Assault: The paralyze effect of !SSlap seems to be broken. It
   doesn't work. !Slash (AKA !FDraw iirc) is also "broken", but for the
   opposite reason. It almost always works. Once you get !Slash, you can
   just hang out in the back row flinging death at the enemies.

>> Precious Life: You can steal a Murasame from every Giant Bird in the
   seas surrounding Solitary Island Temple.

>> Mellusion: The first boss totally immune to !GilToss. Until she changes
   her barrier that is. Her level of resistance to your monetary cannon
   varies with her current barrier. Rather than using !GilToss, just keep
   attacking.

>> WoodSprite: The other boss totally immune to !GilToss. Put a Wall Ring,
   Bone Mail, and Masamune on one character and let the others die. Just
   keep attacking then.

>> Strato: The game's strongest katana can be stolen from the Yojimbo
   enemies at the top of the Dimensional Castle in the N-Zone. It's very
   rare though, and really won't help much in the coming battles.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Lancer / Difficulty: Low
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Defense Formation: Jump is back row OK. So is Dragon Sword. Guess were
   you should be?

>> Flying Chicken Attack: !Jump cancels the Chicken Knife's Flee effect.

>> Biblos: Standard tactics should work here, but if you have trouble,
   learn Dragon Sword and strip him of his MP.

>> Legacy of Kain: Dragoon Lances can be stolen from Crystal Dragons in the
   N-Zone. With these, Ice/Fire shields, and Coral Rings, Lancers *may* be
   able to defeat Shinryu.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Dancer / Difficulty: Moderate
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Sword Dance: Feelin' lucky? Often the best strategy is to wear the enemy
   down as far as you can with regular attacks, then dance and hope for the
   best. Most bosses can be beaten with just luck.

>> Funky Chicken?: Sword Dance cancels the Chicken Knife's Flee effect and
   deals insane damage. Go ahead and gloat, you've earned it.

>> Relic List: The first Ribbon is in Karnak castle. The second is in the
   pyramid. The third can be gotten from the girl in Lugor bordertown in
   the third world. The fourth is in the forest section of the N-Zone. Try
   to get four Flame Rings before leaving world one. Getting four Wall
   Rings in Barrier tower is also highly recommended. Finally, you can
   steal Rainbow Dresses at the Phoenix Tower. The last Dancer relic, the
   Man-eater, is located in the Dimensional Castle in the N-Zone.

>> No Overlap: Combining Rainbow Garb, Tiara, and Red Shoes doesn't
   increase your chances of getting Sword Dance beyond just having one
   equipped. All it really does is replace Temping Tango with Sword Dance.

>> The Art of Seduction: I got !Flirt to work on the following bosses:
   Siren, Magissa, Garula, and LiquidFlame (human) and much, much later,
   Mellusion. !Flirt's success rate is doubled by having a Tiara, Rainbow
   Garb, or Red Shoes equipped.

   Tempting Tango worked on the following bosses: Siren, Magissa, Garula,
   LiquidFlame, Ifrit and much, much later, Mellusion.

>> Crystal Guardians: Use the Flame Rings strategy. Careful when you get
   to the Wind Crystal, as two castings of Aero 3 can easily kill you
   before the Fire Crystal gets a chance to heal the first.

>> Exdeath 1: Max out your HiPotion and Phoenix down supply. Keep at least
   two people in the front row and attacking. Dance is far to random here.
   Those in the back row should dispense HiPotions to anyone between 200
   and 600 HP, and Phoenix Downs to the dead. Those near death should be
   allowed to die and revived later. Four Wall Rings and strength boosting
   equipment are best, if you have less than four, Flame Rings are OK too.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Chemist / Difficulty: SUPER DUPER EASY
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

>> Pharmacology 101: The mixtures you just can't live without.

   Restorative: Antidote + Eyedrop; Cure temporary status. (Old etc.)
   Drain Kiss: Maiden's Kiss + Turtleshell; Drains thousands of HP.
   Resurrection: Phoenix Down + Tonic; Revive with full HP/MP.
   X-Potion: Tonic + Ether; Restore all HP.
   Dragon Breath: Dragon Fang x 2; Damage = HP; Fire/Ice/Bolt elemental.
   Hoary Breath: Dragon Fang + Holy Water; Damage = HP; Holy.

>> Mushroom Hunting: Turtle Shells can be won from the two types of turtles
   near Karnak (W1) and Shoat (W2). Dragon Fangs can be won from Zombie
   Dragons in Dragon Valley, who you can also steal Dark Matter from. Make
   sure to get your Turtle Shells in world one, enough for all world two.
   In world three you can pick up more shells in the fields south of
   Tycoon, where you can also find almost any enemy from the first world.
   Finally, win Dark Matter from Exdeath Souls in Kuzar Castle.

>> Turbo: If you want to play Chemist, make sure you play it on an
   emulator. Fast forward makes collecting ingredients much less of a
   hassle. With decent armor and weapons, GrassTurtles can be slaughtered
   by holding down attack. Sage Staff + Bone Mail + Guard Rings make it
   easy to get Dragon Fangs and Dark Matter in world three. Use Recover
   to keep the poison off, and Revive to ward off Exdeath Souls.

>> Cheers: Drink. Drink till you're invincible. Speed, Giant, and whatever
   else you might like. Giant drinks remain effective even when a character
   is killed in battle, Hero Drinks increase the power of Regen and certain
   mixtures, speed drinks make you faster than your enemy. Samson Might is
   better than Power Drinks however, and Dragon Powers twice that. To
   paraphrase Wicked Souls: BEEF UP and GET PISSED!

>> Bugged: Power drinks do nothing.

___________________________________________________________________________
4) Miscellaneous Stuff

   Stuff that has no other home, but deserves your love and attention.

===========================================================================
4A) Steal/Win List

   This isn't intended to be a comprehensive list of what can be won or
 stolen, for that consult another guide. This is just a list of useful
 items available for stealing with the Thief Knife, obtained in Mirage
 Village in world three, or won from random battles on worlds one and two.
 E-mail me if you want to add something.

>> Items with an * beside them are sure drops.


:::World One::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
| Enemy Name   |  Location    | Common Steal | Rare Steal   |   Drop     |
|========================================================================|
| Mauldwin     | Wind Shrine  |              |              | Elixir     |
|========================================================================|
| Skeleton     |Ship Graveyard|              |              | Dagger     |
|========================================================================|
| Carcurser    |Ship Graveyard|              |              | Elixir     |
|========================================================================|
| RikaldMage   | Walz Tower   | Rod          |              | Fire Rod   |
|========================================================================|
| Zuu          |Karnak Fields |              |   Elixir     | Elixir     |
|========================================================================|
| GrassTurtle  |Karnak Fields |              |              |TurtleShell*|
|========================================================================|
| Poltergeist  | Fire Ship    | HiPotion     | Phoenix Down |            |
|========================================================================|
| Page 256     | Library      | HiPotion     |              |            |
|========================================================================|
| LonkaKnight  | Flying Ruins | HiPotion?    | HiPotion?    |            |
|========================================================================|
| Stone Golem  |Istory Fields |              |              | HiPotion   |
|========================================================================|
| Corvette     | North Sea    |              |              | HiPotion   |
|========================================================================|
| Prototype    |Crescent Arch.|              |              |Dark Matter*|
|========================================================================|
|______________|______________|______________|______________|____________|


:::World Two::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
| Enemy Name   |  Location    | Common Steal | Rare Steal   |   Drop     |
|========================================================================|
| RockStatue   | Val Basement |              | Twin Lance   | Soft       |
|========================================================================|
| LandTurtle   |ShoatContinent|              |              |TurtleShell*|
|========================================================================|
| Cure Beast   |ShoatContinent|              |              | Elixer     |
|========================================================================|
| ZombieDragon |Dragon Valley |              | Dark Matter  |Dragon Fang*|
|========================================================================|
| Metamorpha   | UnderseaCave |              |              |LuminoStaff |
|========================================================================|
| Wall Knight  |Barrier Tower | Warhammer?   | PoisonAxe?   | Wall Ring  |
|========================================================================|
|______________|______________|______________|______________|____________|


:::World Three::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
| Enemy Name   |  Location    | Common Steal | Rare Steal   |   Drop     |
|========================================================================|
| ZombieDragon |Dragon Valley |              | Dark Matter  |Dragon Fang*|
|========================================================================|
| Stingray     | Walz Sea     |       ?      |       ?      |Dragon Beard|
|========================================================================|
| Tote Avis    |Solitary Isle |              | AbSplitter   |            |
|========================================================================|
| Red Imp      |Solitary Isle | Mirage Vest? | Mirage Vest? |            |
|========================================================================|
| Giant Bird   |Solitary Sea  | HiPotion     | Murasame     |            |
|========================================================================|
| T-Wrecks?    |Lugor Area    |              | Judge Staff  |            |
|========================================================================|
| Serpentina   |Phoenix Tower | Rainbow      | Coral Ring   |Lamia's Harp|
|========================================================================|
| Sherry       |Phoenix Tower | Red Shoes    | Elf Cloak    |Winged Shoes|
|========================================================================|
| Disabler     |Phoenix Tower | Wall Ring    | Ribbon       | Wall Ring  |
|========================================================================|
| SwrdDancer   |N-Zone Castle |              | Enchanter    | Ice Brand  |
|========================================================================|
| Fury         |N-Zone Castle | Wall Ring    | Hex Ring     | Black Robe |
|========================================================================|
| Death Claw   |N-Zone Castle |              | Thor Hammer  |            |
|========================================================================|
| Necromancer  |N-Zone Crystal| Holy Water   | Bone Mail    | Holy Water |
|========================================================================|
| Gorchimera   |N-Zone Crystal|              | Aegis Shield |            |
|========================================================================|
| CrystlDragn  |N-Zone Crystal| Elixir       |Dragoon Lance |CrystalMail |
|========================================================================|
| GrassTurtle  |Tycoon Region |              |              |TurtleShell*|
|========================================================================|
| Exdeath Soul | Kuzar Castle |              |              |Dark Matter*|
|========================================================================|
| Desertpede   |Pyramid Desert|              |              |Dark Matter |
|========================================================================|
|______________|______________|______________|______________|____________|


===========================================================================
4B) Fork Tower (Edited from my post on the original FFV Challenge topic.)

   The Fork Tower is entirely optional. There are some reasons to attempt
scaling it, even in classes that have a very hard time with it.

- Big Majicks: White Mages want Holy pretty badly, and Sorcerers benefit
  greatly from Holy and Flare Sword. Time Magi need the Sub to learn
  Meteo. Summoners probably want Leviathan. Black Mages can live without
  Flare though.

- Istory Falls: Without the Submarine you cannot travel behind Istory Falls
  to get the Artemis Bow, Protect Ring, and other goodies. Monks may want
  the Kaiser Knuckles won from the Fall Guards.

- The Great Sea Trench: The Great Sea Trench is one of the easiest places
  for Bards to gain levels. Almost everything is undead, including the
  boss.

  There's nothing *too* valuable in those places. Many of the weapons and
armors found in those places can also be found elsewhere. White Mage is the
only class that has trouble passing the tower and really *needs* to do so.

  The boss of the physical side, the Minotaur, is easy enough for fighters,
even mages should be able to handle it without too big a fuss. The real
obstacle is Omniscient, boss of the magic side.  Hit him with
*anything* but MP driven spells and he will cast Reset; starting the battle 
over from the beginning. Wall rings practically nullify Omni'sattacks, but
don't expect reflect to kill him: he casts Regen, Cure 2 and Drain, plus
lots of non-damaging status spells, most of which he is immune to. It's
worth noting that even though he casts Reflect on himself, he doesn't know
how to use it. Omni will continue to target Cure spells on himself, and
attack spells on you.

Things which cause Reset:

 Dance    SwdSlap   Swd Magic  Magic Lamp  Catch/Release (*)
 Earth    DragnSwd  Jump       Rod Break   Wonder Wand(*)
 Animals  GilToss   Store      Item
 Attack*  Throw     Mug        Mix(*)

(* Unless the effect is Berserk, see below.)

  That said, any class with 'Mage' in it's name (besides White Mage, gee 
screwed again) will have no trouble here. But how do muggle classes beat
this guy? Below are some tactics which have been proven effective by
inventive SCCers.

>> Berserk: All staff wielding classes are in luck; Omniscient *will not*
   cast Reset while Berserk! You can smack him! He'll will smack you back!
   Unfortunately, his attack does ~1500 damage in this state, compared to a
   Morningstar's 200-ish, but hey it's a shot! Berserk can be inflicted
   by attacking with a Power Staff, the mixes Blessed Kiss and Bachus'
   Wine, and the spell Berserk. There might be a few !Release attacks to,
   but I'm not about to go hunting those down.

>> White Mages: First turn; Dispel his Shell/Protect. Second turn; give him
   Reflect. Hopefully he won't have Regen. Keep it up. With Wall Rings you
   might be able to sit back and watch him slowly kill himself. Thank Pearl
   for idiot bosses eh?

>> Shut Yo Mouth!: Like most bosses, Omniscient is vulnerable to Stop and
   Silence. Also like most bosses, these status effects wear off very
   quickly on Omni. There is, however, a brief moment of vulnerability
   while one is still in effect. If you were to time an attack to hit
   immediatly after Stop or Silence is inflicted, Omni will fail his Reset
   counterattack. With Wall Rings on, Omni will reflect these spells back
   at himself on occasion, giving high-damage classes an opportunity to
   strike. Alternately, you may attack your own reflected teamate with a
   Mage Masher to bounce a Silence spell at Omni.

>> The Secret of Manna: Omniscient has a finite amount of MP; about 30,000.
   Reset costs a mere one MP, meaning his MP must be totally depleted
   before you can strike him safely. Lancers, Sorcerers, and Chemists have
   the option of draining away the last small portion, other classes must
   simply wait it out. Fortunatley for them, Scan also costs one MP; when
   it fails you know for sure you can attack. As for how to survive in the
   meantime...

>> The Armoire of Invincibility: Gain invulnerability to every spell in
   Omniscient's repetoire by donning a Wall Ring and the Bone Mail.
   Provided he isn't reflecting Cure 2 off of himself (he won't reflect
   attack spells off of himself, the moron...) you should be set to leave
   the game on for the several hours necessary to completely drain Omni's
   MP. But maybe you can't equip Bone Mail. Maybe your invincibility is
   killing you instead. If that's the case, look below.

>> DE Demanded I Add This: A less risky variant of the above strategy is to
   equip the Wall Ring sans the undead inducing Bone Mail. Omniscient's
   attack pattern changes whenever you act; change it to one that doesn't
   include Drain and you'll be safe.

 --NOTE-----------------------------------------------------------
  This section used to contain a strategy for defeating Omniscient
  which involved forcing 30,000 castings of Reset. I have since
  removed it, after being informed by Sabin47 that Reset doesn't
  deplete MP after being cast. "Reflective-Berserker-Lich Plan
  Alpha", today was not your day...
 -----------------------------------------------------------------


===========================================================================
4C) Codes

Three now. This has grown due to the solo games, which are now the rage.

ROM:
 Get All Jobs:
  7E0840FF
  7E0841FF
  7E0842FF

 7e051a80 : Character 1 always Dead
 7e056a80 : Character 2 always Dead
 7e05ba80 : Character 3 always Dead
 7e060a80 : Character 4 always Dead

PSX:
 Get All Jobs:
  8002E840 FFFF
  3002E842 00FF

===========================================================================
4D) < Exp/ABP/Gil Locations >


Exp: 1000+ from the MiniDragon(s) near Istory, in the forest where you can
     get Ramuh. Equip for MDefense to thwart their Mini-Blaze.
ABP: 5 from Skull Eaters in Jacohl cave. Hopefully you have some way of
     hurting them...
Gil: 600+ from the dogs in the forests around Karnak. Even weak classes
     can kill each dog in a single hit. The 5 BlackFlames on the small
     island north of Crescent Island give 870 gil, and better exp/ABP.


Exp: 2500 from ShieldDragons in Kuzar Castle. Possibly Trainer only.
     Exdeath's Castle is pretty good too, or the cave near Shoat.
ABP: 4-8 from the RockStatues under Val castle. Just use Softs.
Gil: See above, minus the softs. Or not. You still make a profit.


Exp: 5000 from the double IronGiant battle in the last room of the
     Dimensional Castle in the N-Zone. Barring that, the desert around
     Phoenix Tower is good as well, and you can use tents right there.
     Before those become available, you can sometimes fight a group of five
     Isteritos in the forest West of Easterly Falls for 2500.
ABP: 199 from the Movers in the very last section of the N-Zone. Every
     other fight in the crystal section is worth double digits, but why
     would you need it now?
Gil: Dragon Valley. Kill Zombie Dragons and sell the fangs for 2500 each.
     5000 for every GreatBird in the sea around solitary island. The N-Zone
     and Phoenix Tower are decently profitable as well.


===========================================================================
4E) < N-ZONE Status Vulnerability Charts > (Very Unfinished)


>> Warning: This stuff could be wrong. Most of the status resistances
   listed are based on abilities that have a chance of failure. If after
   twelve castings of Mini the enemy is unaffected, chances are slim you'll
   want to use it yourself. Further, much of it was written by memory.

     Berserk was tested using the Power Staff.
     Frog and Confusion were tested using !Mix and X-Magic.
     Venom, Sleep, Mute, and Mini were tested with X-Magic.
     Slow, Demi, Old and Stop were tested with Time Magic.
     Flirt... was tested with !Flirt. It's probably wrong.
     Death was tested with !Slash, Death Potions and the spells
      X-Zone and Odin. An 'R' means the enemy is revived. X-Zone
      does not revive these. 'U' designates an undead killable
      by Phoenix Downs or Life. An X means X-Zone works.
     A '!' means that this status is particularly good idea.

 ::Dimensional Castle:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 |Monster Name |Mut|Min|Con|Brs|Ven|Slp|Frg|Slw|Dmi|Stp|Old|Dth|Flr|
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Fury        | * | * | * |   | * | * | * | * |   | * | * | R |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | SwordDancer | * | * | * |   | * | * | ! | * | * | * | * | * |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Death Claw  | * |   | * |   |   | ! |   | * | * | * | * | * |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Iron Giant  |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |   | * |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Yojimbo     | * | ! | * |   | * | * | * | * | * |   | * |X* |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 |_____________|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|


 ::Crystal Zone:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
 |Monster Name |Mut|Min|Con|Brk|Ven|Slp|Frg|Slw|Dmi|Stp|Old|Dth|Flr|
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | CrystlDragn | * |   | ! | * |   | * |   | * |   | * | * |   |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 |KingBehemoth*| * |   | * | * |   |   | ! |   |   | * | * |   |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Mover       | * |   | * |   |   | * |   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Gorchimera  |   |   | ! |   |   |   |   | * | * |   | * | * | * |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Belfagel    | * |   |   | * | * | * | * |   |   |   |   |   |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Necromancer |   | * | * | * |   | * | * | * |   | * |   |XU | * |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Mind Flayer |   |   | ! |   |   |   | * | * |   |   |   | R |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 | Thing       | * |   |   |   |   | * |   | * |   | * |   | R |   |
 |=============|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|===|
 |_____________|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|___|

  * Tagging a King Behemoth with a spell causes it to Counter with Meteo.


===========================================================================
4F) < Links >

 Don't expect much activity here now.

- The "Official" SCC board, AKA "Challenge":
 http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=584617

- The SNES FFV board:
 http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=588331

- The PSX FFV board:
 http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=562810

- The GBA FFVA board:
 http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gentopic.php?board=930369

- Dragon Elemental's Fast-Track Blue Magic FAQ:
 http://www15.brinkster.com/ChaoticOne/FFVBlueMagicFAQ.txt

===========================================================================
4G) < Apology >

   Sorry for for not changing my email address in the two years after
 losing access to that account even though "email me" is written all over
 the damn place. Sorry for not updating the faq for two years despite
 promising to several times. _(._.)_

===========================================================================
4H) < Old Versions Info >

Version 0.01 - Started guide, creating the framework and format.
               Very little content. (2/12/2003)
Version 0.02 - Added Samurai strats (mine) and a bunch of random stuff.
               (2/13/2003)
Version 0.03 - Added various things, corrected Geomancer and Hunter
               comments. Began looking for a good way to format strats and
               lists. The last 0.XX update? (2/14/2003)
Version 1.00 - Formatted stuff. Added stuff. Wrote intros. Added sections.
               There's finally enough data to submit this to GameFAQs...
               (2/15/2003)
Version 1.10 - Damn I'm an idiot. I forgot to add links to the links
               section. I finally figured out a way to spell check this.
               Added the wind boosting properties of the Air Lancet.
               Edited Fork Tower. Added to Blue Mage and Chemist.
               Added alternate healing for BKM, KNT, and SOR.
               Added equipment info for DNC. Plugged DE's FAQ.
               Many other things. Spell checked again.
Version 1.11 - Added EXP/GIL/ABP locations, LiquidFlame strat, HiPotions
               in W1, Reflect Trick, corrected Surge Beam, Catastrophe
               strat, Summoner stuff, fixed White Wind, Murasame location,
               Dancer info, PSX All Jobs code. [Unreleased]
Version 1.20 - Bard strats ('bout time), Time Mage info. Loads of monster
               info for trainers from MC. Altered a rule to accomadate
               Mimics.
Version 1.21 - Added the other recharge location for the Magic Lamp,
               corrected the Fork Tower section. General purpose updates
               and corrections. [Unreleased]
Version 1.30 - Added RainingFlame's preliminary Charm list, and WM info.
               Added some Bard strats from Sabin and Canth. New HiPotion
               source, Berserker stuff from Setzer.
Version 1.31 - Corrected class overviews to reflect certain notable
               achievements by SCCers. Song info. Basic corrections.
               Thief and Bard info. Spell check. >_> (3/27/03)
Version 1.32 - Piano info and more song info. Added new monsters to Trainer
               section. Some !GilToss info. (4/7/02) [Unreleased]
Version 1.40 - Thanks to Destruction Angel and Alex Jackson, I finally have
               the !$Toss formula. And the hole has been filled... I've
               also added some "extra" rules, for those who enjoy
               punishment. (4/7/02)
Version 1.41 - Added more rules and challenges. GreatDragon release.
               General Strategies updated, as well as THF, TIM, BUM.
               Various info, formatting, spellcheck. RikaldMage drop.
Version 1.42 - Added status vulnerabilities for Crystal area. Remembered
[Unreleased]   Gilgame's hoard. Lots of corrections and additions from
               Silktail. True Solo White Mage is complete!! ASCII time!!
Version 1.50 - I put together some ASCII art for sqpat, and updated Thief's
               difficulty rating now that Sabin has finished it. (4/18/03)
Version 1.60 - Added a Pratchett quote to the basic strategies section.
               Updated the Rules and Optional Rules. Thief, Bard, BUM, BKM,
               updated.Geomancer complete.
               Time Mage? Sooon my precious... soooon. (4/30/03)
Version 1.61 - Time Mage complete! Edited optional rules. Added Mimic
               section. Corrected Omni's MP. BUM, BRD, updated. (5/18/03)
Version 1.62 - Added some nonsense to the ninja sections. New Codes. HoF
               updated. HoF reformated. TwoSwords info corrected. Berserker
               updated. Re-ordered class overviews.(5/31/03)

___________________________________________________________________________
5) HALL OF FAME

   Sometimes, in my less sober moments, I may refer to this section as the
 Holy Land of SCC Heroes. Alright, that's a lie. I never drink. Still,
 these persons have all contributed something worthy of mention.

===========================================================================
5A) < Credits/Thanks >

   Much, nay, most of the material in this guide comes from other people.
 Here, I will try to give them credit for their strategies and input.
 Think your name should be here? Drop me a line explaining what it is you
 deserve credit for. I'm not known for my good memory and probably forgot
 a lot of people anyway...

 Many thanks to...

- MunkiBleedsGreen, who coined the name "Straight Character Challenge",
  popularized the FFT version, and authored it's FAQ (mentioned in the
  intro.) Check out his site at .

- Sabin47, for that brilliant idea with the Flame Rings, for proving
  thieves can beat Biblos, and a thousand other bits of general
  information. Harp/Song/Bard info. !Mimic info. Helped to define the
  rules for solo games. But most of all for disproving my original Fork
  Tower theory.

- DragonElemental, for his *numerous* contributions. An alternate Dark
  Matter location, some mixes, lots of Blue Mage info, the Reflect Trick,
  alternate Wall Ring strat for Omniscient...

- RainingFlame, for discovering Gilgamesh's spells at the Big Bridge can be
  muted, and for the handy Charm List. He was the first to attempt WM, and
  the first to complete it. Not counting Atomos anyhow...

- DaBoss, for posting hunter updates and helping draw others to the topic.
  One hand clapping makes no sound...

- Merlock, for also proving that thieves can beat Biblos, and some stealing
  info.

- NeoElfboy, who pointed out that BlackShock + Lvl. 5 Doom kills Atomos.

- JSH357, who pointed out that Biblos can be drained of MP.

- Zaku X, who finished Fork Tower "straight" with lancers, corrected me
  on Surge Beam's damage and discovered that Corvettes drop HiPotions.

- redrocket, who provided the PSX All Jobs code, reminded me that Omni
  casts Scan, gave me some good exp/gil/ABP locations, and Thor Hammer
  & Aegis Shield steal locations.

- matthewcarter50, for lots of Trainer info and the Murasame location.

- TamerBill, for the FaerieOrc's release attack.

- kupop, for the Red Imp's steal item.

- SetzerGabbiani, the first to complete Berserkers!

- Solarious, who reported Stone Golems dropping HiPotions and Mini-Dragons
  releasing Holy.

- Alex Jackson and Destruction Angel, who helped with the !$Toss formula.

- Maqur, great dragon's release attack and Geomancer strategy for Omni.

- Silktail, who sent in a *ton* of additions and corrections via e-mail.

- Aeris7777, for clearing things up about !Mimic.

- Knife bug, Power Drink bug, Tiara special, and Thief Knife 'special'
  snatched from instructrtrepe's Algorithms/Stats FAQ.

- Ninja "facts" were stolen from < www.realultimatepower.net >.

 [...]

- Many others, for posting updates on the board, yadda, yadda.

===========================================================================
5B) < HUGE Pretty ASCII Art >

     This here giant ASCII art thing commemorates squat17's victory over
  Atomos with a single White Mage. I promised to put the name of whoever
  managed to defeat Atomos with a straight WMs in a big flashy ASCII
  thingy, but a SOLO victory so impressed me I went a step further and
  made *this* using BG_ASCII. If you can't tell, that's White Mage Butz
  with a staff. Is it not nifty?


                                    NNNNNY  YNNNNNNNNNNNNN
                                 +$$#####D$$D########HHHHH$$$$$$$$$$$
                                 YNNDDDAAQNNQDDDDDAAUQQQQQNNNNNNNNNNN
      $$$$$$$$$$$                YNNUUUAAU##UDDDDDAAUUUUUU###HHHHHHHH$$+
      NNNNNNNNNNN                YNNNNNDDDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUQQQQQQQQNNY
   +$$QQQQQ######$$$          +$$DHH###AAUUUAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUQQQ###AA$
   YNNYYYYYDUUUUUNNN          YNN#QQAAAQQ#NNQDDAAAAAAAAQQQQQUAAUQQNNN
$AAAAAQQQQQ###QUUQQQAA$       YNNQAAAAAHHHNNQDDAAA##UAAUUUQQQUUQHH###AA$
YNNUYYNNNNNNNN#UUUUUNNY       YNNQDDAAANNNNNQDDAAANNQAAAAAQQQQQ#NNQQQNNY
YNNQAANNNAAUQQ###UUUNNY       YNNQDDUUUNNNNNQDDAAA#####AAAUUUUUUUUQQQNNY
YNN#UUNNNYYDUU#NNUUUNNY       YNNQDDQQQNNNNNQDDAAAQQ#NNAAAAAAAAAAAQQQNNY
YNN#UUNNNAAAUU#NNUUUQQUAA$    +$$D##UUUNNU00A##DDDUUUUU###UUUUUUUUHHH$$+
YNN#UUNNNUUUUU#NNUUUUU#NNY       YNNAAANND%%DNNDDDAAAAANNNQQQQQQQQNNN
YNNQDDNNN##QUU#NNUUUUU#NNY       +$$###NND%%0QQ%%%#####000HH#QQ#HH$$$
YNNUYYNNNNN#UU#NNUUUUU#NNY          NNNNND%%0UU   NNNNN%%%NN#QQ#NN
   YNNUUUUUUUU#NNNNNUUUUU#NN           NND%%0UU   00000%%%NN#QQ#NNNNN
   YNNUUUUUUUU#NNNNNUUUUU#NN           NND%%0UU   00000%%%NN#QQ#NNNNN
      NNNNNNNNY  NNNUUUUU#NN        NNNNND%%%%%%%%00000NNNNNNNNUYY...NNY
      NNNNNNNNY  NNNUUUUU#NN        NNNNND%%%%%%%%00000NNNNNNNNUYY...NNY
                    NNUYYDUUNNY  YNNYYYNND%%%%%00000UNNYYYYYYYYYYYYYY..0NNY
                    AAAAAAAA##D$$ANN222UUD002%%AAAAAUUU22222222222222%%DNNY
                      YNNUYYUU#NNNNN...%%DNND%%NNNNND%%........+%%%%%YYUNNY
                      $AAAAAAAQ##HNN222%%YUUD00QQQAAY%%$$$22222Y0000022ANNY
                         YNNYYDUU#NNNNN..+%%DNNYYY.....QQQNNNNNNNNNNN%%DNNY
                         $AAAAAUUQQQQQQ22$%%0QQ222$$222DDDUUQHH###QQQ00DAA$
                            NN#UUD00000NND%%2YY...QQ#NN%%%%%0QQUAAYYYNNY
                            AAUQQDYYYYYHHU00Y22$$$AAQNN%%%%%0QQUAA222NNY
   @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@          YNND%%%%%QQ#NN0..QQQYYUNN%%%%%0QQUAA%%%NNY
    | * sqpat17 * |           YNND%%YYYQQUAA2..$$$$$ANNYYY%%0QQUAA+++NNY
    | High Priest |           YNND%%000QQAYY$.....%%DNN000%%0QQUAA...NNY
    |     of      |           YNNQDDQQQDD2%%+.....%%YAAQQQDDAUUAAA...NNY
    |   Atomos    |           YNN#QQNNNYY$........%%2YYNNNQQUAAAAA...NNY
    |  Whomping   |           YNN#UUNNN$$%........++%$$AAAHHQAAY$$...NNY
    | *4/15/2003* |           YNNQAANNN%%+..........+%%YYYNNQAA2.....NNY
   @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@          YNNQAANNN%%+..........+%%YYYNNQAAAAA...NNY
                              YNNQAANNN%%+..........+%%YYYNNQAAAAA...NNY
                              2QQ#NN%%%................%%%NNQAA2.....%%DNNY
                              2QQ#NN%%%................%%%NNQAA2.....%%DNNY
                              2QQ#NN%%%..2AA2.......2AA...%%DNNQAAAAA..0NNY
                              2QQ#NN%%%..2AA2.......2AA...%%DNNQAAAAA..0NNY
                              YNNQAAAAAAAAAAY%%...%%YAAAAA%%0QQ#NNAAAAAY%%.
                              $AAUUUUUUAAAAA022$$$220AAAAAYYDQQ#NNUUUAA0YY%
                                 YNNNNNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQQQQQ#NNNNNAAUQQ2
                                 $AAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU#####UAANNNUUQ##Y
                                       NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNY  NNNNNNNNY
                                       AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA$  AAAAAAAA$


===========================================================================
5C) < Noteworthy FFV SCC Achivements >

  Heavily modified from the original. Post corrections, additions, or
 suggestions on the Challenge board.

                    @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@
                     | "The Four Warriors of the Dawn" |
                    @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@

   The first four to start SCCs on the board, but not necessarily the first
  to finish those SCCs. Nor are they really the first to attempt FFV SCCs,
  just the first to post updates on the Challenge board. You can consider
  me Exdeath BTW. FWA HA HA HA!

    DaBoss:      Hunter
    DoomsdayMD:  Thief
    ZakuX:       Geomancer*
    JSH357:      Lancer

 * Look how long it took before somebody actually finished it.

                  @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@
                   | "We All Thought They Was Crazy" |
                  @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=@

    These people, for some reason or another, chose to do something a
  little unusual with their free time.

   redrocket:       The first to attempt Berserker. First to be buried to
                     his neck in Quicksand.

   DragonElemental: Finished SCCs faster than anybody would believe. Was
                     mistaken for me at one point. O_o Attempting a solo
                     thief game under one of the strangest rules ever
                     devised, the Benevolent Picaroon rule.

   RainingFlame:    Introduced us to the horrors of the White Mage SCC.
                     "The horror has begun. White Mages appear to suck."

   sqpat17:         Attempted, and completed, a solo White Mage game.


                    @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-@
                     | Final Fantasy V SCC Rollcall |
                    @=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-@

 This section is really out of date because I didn't bother to back up
the new threads after first losing interest in FFV SCCs.

Sabin47 (Those last four came seemingly out of nowhere.)
 SCCs Completed: *Blue Mage*, *Summoner*, *Bard*, *Thief*, Black Mage,
                  Hunter, Time Mage, Trainer

iLikeSwords (Me!!)
 SCCs Completed: *Samurai*, *Red Mage*, Chemist, *Dancer*, *Time Mage*
SSCCs Completed: *Blue Mage*, *Red Mage*

Not Dave (Then who?)
 SCCs Completed: Monk
SSCCs Completed: *Hunter*, Samurai, *Summoner*, Ninja, *Geomancer*

RainingFlame (Left the scene before it got boring, a decision I envy.)
 SCCs Completed: *Sorcerer*, *Monk*, *Black Mage*, Blue Mage, Grey Mage

DragonElemental (Dragon is an element now?)
 SCCs Completed: *Chemist*, *Knight*, Blue Mage, Ninja

Maqur
 SCCs Completed: *Geomancer*, Lancer

Dark Sword 77
 SSCCs Completed: *Lancer*, *Sorcerer*

ZakuX
 SCCs Completed: *Lancer*

Beawulf
 SCCs Completed: *Ninja*

DaBoss
 SCCs Completed: *Hunter*

matthewcarter50
 SCCs Completed: *Trainer*

SetzerGabbiani
 SCCs Completed: *Berserker*

sqpat17
 SSCCs Completed: *White Mage*

Reborn Aramis
 SCCs Completed: Red Mage

Merlock
 SCCs Completed: Thief



=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 END OF FILE. CONTINUING TO READ IS PUNISHABLE BY SEVERE EYESTRAIN.