------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Phantasy Star IV A comprehensive FAQ/Walkthrough/Strategy Guide By Marak ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Version: 1.0 Author: Mark Quaintance, a.k.a. Marak e-mail: nematocyst@hotmail.com OR mquaintance@sbcglobal.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents: 1. Legal Text 2. Revision History 3. Introduction to my guide 4. Preamble: The Playable Characters 5. Complete Game Walkthrough 6. Wrap up and things to come 7. Credit where credit is due ------------- 1. Legal Text ------------- This FAQ is copyrighted material. LIMITED REPRODUCTION LICENSE: This FAQ may be posted, emailed, or saved to a disk without express permission, provided that the FAQ remains unaltered, and the full copyright notice is in place. Removing the copyright notice and rights disclaimer voids any rights assigned. Exclusions: This FAQ may not be used for promotional purposes, nor may it be incorporated in guides, magazines, secured websites, or in any state or place where a fee is charged in order to obtain the information contained within. All professional use rights are retained by the author. Future revisions of this FAQ may be found at http://www.gamefaqs.com. Contact me! If you have anything you want me to add to this guide, if you know something I don't know, if you have a better way to beat a certain enemy or Boss, or if you have CONSTRUCTIVE criticism/feedback, or heck, even if you just have a question about the game, PLEASE e-mail me at: nematocyst@hotmail.com OR mquaintance@sbcglobal.net and tell me! You could also post on the GameFAQs Phantasy Star IV Message Board, but I don't get the chance to hang around there as much as I would like. You'd get a faster reply by e-mailing me, trust me on this one. This FAQ should be found in only one place: http://www.gamefaqs.com (and I better not see it anywhere else...) ------------------- 2. Revision History ------------------- Version 1.0 - Completed 8/4/04 My first attempt at a full-fledged Walkthrough. I think it turned out pretty well, but we'll see. Guide includes descriptions of every playable character; the location of every treasure chest; the location of every town and a listing of every shop and what it sells; how to get to every dungeon - and how to get THROUGH every dungeon; descriptions of every monster as you encounter them in the game; tactics for beating every Boss; and a walkthrough that takes you from the game's introduction to the defeat of the game's end Boss. The storyline is also paraphrased, so you can reference important plot points, and I give information about how the storylines and characters from Phantasy Stars I and II tie into the plot line of Phantasy Star IV. Now that we have all that out of the way, it's time for the... --------------------------- 3. Introduction to My Guide --------------------------- Welcome! I'm glad you've chosen to at least check out my (not so) little Phantasy Star IV FAQ. I'm going to attempt to make this thing a bit different than most FAQs, in that it's going to be one continuous walkthrough, rather than being split up into all these different sub-sections and whatnot. In addition, the Walkthrough is going to contain a TON of relevant info within it, including: -Monster descriptions: their capabilities, attacks, and weaknesses. Also, what attacks/Skills/Techniques your characters should use for a quick victory. -Character Rundowns: a description of each character is given when they join the Party. Starting Level, Techniques, Skills, and combat role are all given. -Ability info: a description of what each character's Techniques and Skills do, both when they join the Party and whenever they learn new ones. -Storyline descriptors: I paraphrase the storyline as it happens, and give clarifications and additional backstory (from Phantasy Stars I and II) where appropriate. -Town sections: lists Inn prices, what each store (weapon, armor, item) carries and how much each item costs, and what you ought to buy for each character while in said Town. -All the side-quests: as soon as they become available/reachable, I describe all of the game's optional dungeons and Hunter's Guild Jobs, giving the requirements and rewards of each. -And, of course, complete walkthroughs of each dungeon: monster stats, directions to each and every treasure chest, directions on how to get to the end of each dungeon, and lastly how to beat the Boss that awaits you there. A quick note on transrations: In the original Phantasy Star, the 3 planets of the Algo Solar System were Palma, Motavia, and Dezoris. In Phantasy Star IV, they are referred to as Parma, Motavia, Dezolis. Gotta love that whole "The Japanese use "l" and "r" as the same character and thus when games are transrated you get crap like Parma/Palma and Dezoris/Dezolis" thing we got goin' on here. And so, because I'm stubborn, I refer to "Parma" as "Palma", because it was a fertile planet (think, PALM trees). And, I refer to Dezolis as Dezolis and not Dezoris because it is the DEZOLATE (yeah, it's spelled desolate, I KNOW) planet. You get it? PALMa and DEZOLis. I'm not crazy; I just disagree with certain tranration choices. In addition, the game's transrators couldn't decide on whether to use the term "Dezolian" or "Dezolisian". I will ONLY use Dezolian, because it matches the other terms the game uses: Palmanian and Motavian. Three syllables across the board. Finally, it's Lassic, not Lashiec. Uh, so there, SoA! But enough rambling... let's get on with it, shall we? ------------------------------------ 4. Preamble: The Playable Characters ------------------------------------ Before we get to the Walkthrough itself, I'll start with a detailed description of the game's playable characters. THERE ARE SOME MINOR SPOILERS HERE, SO BE WARNED. *Ahem*, anyway, I'll first tell you how each Character Entry will be broken down: ----- Name - Job, Sex Age Class Type: Not on your Status Screen. This is MY description of what type of character this is. Do they fight with Melee or Ranged weapons? What kinds of Techniques and Skills do they have? I take these things into account and list what type of fighter they are here. This first paragraph will detail a bit about the character's past, as told to us either in the game's instruction book, via the storyline, or both. The second paragraph will list the character's strengths. Which of their statistics get a high score? Do they have a lot of HP/TP? What powerful Techniques and/or Skills do they learn? What is their best role in combat? I answer questions like these in this area. The third paragraph (just to be fair) lists the character's weaknesses. Yes, every character does have a least a couple of weak points, and I list them all here. Techniques learnable: I list every single Technique the character will ever be able to learn here. This can be a spoiler, of a sort, so read this entry at your own risk. Skills learnable: Same as above, but Skills instead of Techniques. Overall: Here, I put all the above info together for you. I spell out how powerful in combat the character is compared to your other Party members. I reiterate their best combat role. Tell you what you can expect the character to do for you while they are in the Party. Stuff like that. ----- OK, that about covers it. PLEASE NOTE, that throughout this guide, I will FREQUENTLY abreviate Techniques as "Tech" or "Techs." I may even say *gasp* "spell" because some of them are so magic-like that I can't help myself. And now, your Cast of Characters: ----- Chaz - Hunter, Male Age: 16 Starting Level: 1 Class Type: Hybrid Melee Fighter and Balanced Tech user. Chaz is the game's Main Character. Originally an orphan, he was saved from a hard life on the streets by Alys. Alys, herself a famed Hunter, has trained Chaz to follow in her stead. As the game begins, Chaz has been promoted from Assistant to full-fledged Partner. There has been a mysterious outbreak of monsters in the basement of Motavia Acedemy, and Alys and Chaz have been hired to wipe them out. But perhaps this "simple" job will lead to greater (and more sinister) challenges... Chaz is primarily a Melee Fighter. He weilds two-handed swords (and is able to equip daggers) and can wear most any type of armor. Thus, Chaz will always have very respectable Attack and Defense. Chaz also learns a variety of damage-dealing and Travel Techniques, which will benefit the Party greatly (and can save you a crapload of time, to boot). Chaz' Skills are also very formidable. The proper Skill used at the right time can end a battle quickly. He also has a healthy supply of HP: this, combined with his formidable Defense and adequate Magic Defense, make him one tough cookie to take down. Chaz's weaknesses are few, but they are there, nontheless. He has a relatively small amount of TP, and his Mental stat (which governs how powerful your Techniques are) is, for a Hybrid Caster, pretty abysmal. Finally, his very limited selection of Healing Techs pales in comparison with most other Party members. Techniques learnable: Res (Gi,Na), Tsu (Gi,Na), Hinas, Ryuka, Anti, Zan (Gi,Na), Rimpa, Brose, Rever, Megid Skills learnable: Earth, CrossCut, AirSlash, RayBlade, Explode Overall: Chaz is one of the best characters in the game. Great physical combat ability combined with a wide selection of useful Techniques and some of the most powerful Skills in the game makes for one potent character. Oh yeah, and he gets the most powerful weapon in the game as part of the storyline. ----- Alys - Hunter, Female Age: ?? Starting Level: 7 Class Type: Stealth/Ranged Fighter and Offensive Tech user. Alys is a world-famous Hunter who hunts the biomonsters of Motavia for a living. She took in Chaz a few years ago and has trained him to be her Partner. Alys has a very straightforward personality and doesn't take crap from ANYONE. Her determination to get the Job done, coupled with Chaz's curiosity, starts a quest to stop the spread of evil across the entire Algo Solar System... Alys is best described as a Mass Damage Character. Her regular weapons - slashers - attack all foes at once, although they are not very strong compared to Melee weapons like Axes and Swords. She also learns a number of Techs and Skills that affects multiple foes at once. Alys has above-average HP for a non-melee character and also has respectable TP. In fact, almost all of Alys's stats are strictly average, except for her Agility, which is quite high. Alys's weaknesses include a marginal Mental stat and a lack of Techs and Skills (she only learns a handful of each). Techniques learnable: Foi (Gi,Na), Shift, SaNer, Zan (Gi,Na) Skills learnable: Vortex, MoonShad(e), Death Overall: Alys starts out a few levels higher than Chaz and Hahn, so she is your most powerful Character for quite a while. Once everyone's Levels catch up, she becomes less impressive, dealing less and less damage as her slashers' attack power falls behind that of the straight Melee weapons. Still, she's a good character to the end. ----- Hahn - Scholar, Male Age: 24 Starting Level: 1 Class Type: Tech User, with an emphasis on defeating Biomonsters. Hahn is a scholar studying with Professor Holt. When the good Prof. goes missing, Hahn "hires" Alys and Chaz to help search for him. Little does he realize that finding the Professor means finding other, less desirable things... Hahn is, basically, PSIV's version of PSII's Biologist class. He has a lot of TP, high Mental, and most of his Techniques focus on the healing, harming, disabling, and destruction of organic creatures. He also learns some Techs that are useful against more than Biomonsers. While Hahn can use daggers, he's actually better off not attacking physically. It's honestly not a bad idea to equip him with two shields (one in each hand) and simply use Wat and Vol as his primary "attacks". Hahn's weaknesses are the same as those of most Tech Users: below average HP coupled with a poor physical defense and low, low attack power. He also has a VERY limited selection of Skills, and half of those are nothing special. Techniqes learnable: Res (Gi,Na), Gelun, Wat (Gi,Na), Anti, Doran, Zan (Gi,Na), Vol (Sa), Rimpa, Rimit Skills learnable: Vision, Astral, Eliminat(e) Overall: Healing coupled with a wide array of attack Techs makes Hahn a force to be reckoned with - if you can keep him alive, that is. Two Shields (or 1 Shield and a Dagger) is a good way to acomplish this. Even with 2 daggers, Hahn will never deal good damage, so... go with the shields. ----- Rune - Wizard, Male Age: ?? Starting Level: 16 Class Type: Wizard, duh. Emphasis on destructive Techs and Skills. Rune is an enigma, at least when you first meet him in the ruined town of Molcum. He knows Alys from somewhere, but neither will say from where or when. He picks on Chaz frequently, and yet, he seems to have Chaz' well-being in mind, often giving him advice or warnings. He leaves shortly after joining Alys & company, departing with Grandfather Dorin on a mysterious quest. Fear not, your path and his will cross again... Rune is your Party's main magic damage dealer - essentially, he's Chaz' magical counter-part. His Techniques - with a few limited exceptions - focus solely on dealing damage or teleporting the Party. He has a huge selection of offense-oriented Techniques, and ALL of his many Skills deal damage or attempt to slay your foes outright. In fact, Rune has SO much firepower at his fingertips that it's not a bad idea at all to have him "pull a Hahn" and equip two Shields. With his massive, massive stores of TP and damage dealing Skills, it will be a very rare occasion that Rune will ever need to attack physically. This is good, because his attack is just downright pathetic. Rune shares most of Hahn's weaknesses: low HP, terrible attack power, and pathetic physical defense. However, his high magic defense makes him a bit more survivable than Hahn, especially in Boss Battles. Techniques learnable: Foi (Gi,Na), Wat (Gi,Na), Gra (Gi,Na), Arows, Hinas, Ryuka, Seals, Rever Skills learnable: Flaeli, Hewn, Diem, Tandle, Efess, Negatis, Legeon Overall: Rune could compete with Chaz for the "most powerful character" award. He can fight with Techs and Skills until the cows come home, so do NOT be afraid to have him cast a spell or use a Skill in every single round. If you use him like the Battle Mage he is, you'll go far. An excellent addition to the Party. ----- Gryz - Motavian, Male Age: 19 Starting Level: 6 Class Type: Melee Fighter. Pure Melee Fighter. Gryz is a young Motavian driven by a burning desire for revenge. Zio the Black Magician murdered his parents, and when he finds out that Alys' Party is also looking into Zio's activies, he invites himself along in the hopes that he can confront Zio and make him pay for his crimes. Maybe he ought to be more careful what he wishes for... Gryz is your Meat Shield. He has the highest HP of any character (except, perhaps, for Wren) and has excellent Attack and Defense, as well. With his massive, two-handed Axes, he can deal more damage than even Chaz, which is no mean feat. He also had good Dex, which means he'll get more than his fair share of Critical Hits. Unfortunately, Gryz's weaknesses really outweigh his strengths. He has only one Tech, and only three Skills, of which one is useless and another you won't get until the very end of the game. He also has absymal magic defense, which means he takes outrageous damage from most bosses. He's also pretty slow, which doesn't help his case any. Techniques learnable: Brose Skills learnable: Crash, WarCry, Sweeping Overall: Gryz is there pretty much there to balance out the Tech-heavy Party you have when you get him. He can take a lot of hits, and dishes out some nice damage, but his lack of ability to do anything other than attack, attack, attack really keeps him from being a "must have" Character. You won't be shedding any tears when he finally leaves the Party for... personal reasons. ----- Rika - Numan, Female Age: 1 Starting Level: 1 Class Type: Melee Fighter/Healer hybrid. Rika is a genetically enhanced humanoid, the product of a thousand years of improvent on a Prototype from prior to the 'Great Collapse'. She is sent by her "father" - the AI dubbed 'Seed' - out into the world in an attempt to stop the outbreak of biomonsters. Rika is compassionate and intelligent and capable, but will her naitivete hinder your quest? Rika is probably third on the list of "most useful characters", after Chaz and Rune. She is a capable fighter, able to deal almost as much damage as Chaz. She also has HP and Defense equeal to Chaz'. In addtion, she learns a useful assortment of defensive and healing Techs, and a few powerful offensive Skills. She also has high Dexterity, Agility, and Strength. Rika has few weaknesses, actually. She lacks offensive Techs, and a lot of her Skills simply aren't as effective as you might think, but Rika still has good stats all around and isn't really lacking in any particular area, except perhaps an ability to damage multiple foes at once. Techniques learnable: Res (Gi,Na), SaNer, Deban, Shift, Sar (Gi,Na) Skills learnable: Illusion, DblSlash, Eliminat(e), Disrupt Overall: You'll be pleasantly surprised when Rika joins the Party. Rika is versatile, powerful, and durable. In addition to the basic Res line of Techs, she learns the Sar line of Techs (heals all humanoids in the Party simultaneously), as well as Deben, which cuts down physical damage dealt to the entire Party. Offensive skills like DblSlash and her ability to weild powerful Claw weapons makes her a force to be reckoned with in melee combat, as well. Rika is one of my favorite characters, and I think you'll find she grows on you, as well. ----- Demi - Andriod, Female Age: 324 Starting Level: 12 Class Type: Ranged Attacker and Healer. Demi is an Android, a robot given human form. She is very knowledgable about machinery and the various Climate Control Systems still functioning on Motavia. After you rescue her from the clutches of Zio, she will join your Party in an effort to stop the systems from spiraling out of control, thus destroying Motavia's climate and making the planet unhospitable. Demi, like Gryz, seems to be more a part of the plot rather than a well thought out character. She has a few useful Skills and respectable HP, but all her other stats are average at best, and her Gun weapons aren't that great, either. If there's one thing that Demi does well, it's kill Mechanical creatures, but that is literally ALL she does well. Demi has more than her fair share of weaknesses, as well. The fact that she's not alive means that Healing Techniques (and items) do not work on her; thus, she must use her Recover Skill to heal herself. She also has no Mental score (which means that she has abysmal Magic Defense), TP, or Techniques. Techniques learnable: none. Skills learnable: Recover, StatisBm, Spark, Barrier, Medic Pw, Phonomezer Overall: It's good thing that Demi is only with the Party for a limited amount of time, because quite frankly, she sucks. One strength with a host of weaknesses and unhealthy dose of all-around mediocrity does not a good character make. You'll just have to bear with her for now; she thankfully won't be with you for too long. ----- Wren - Android, Male Age: 998 Starting Level: 20 Class Type: Front-line Fighter. Wren is the android in charge of keeping Motavia's control systems functioning properly. When he is rendered helpless by an unknown usurper, he joins the Party in order to find out who is messing with the Algo Solar System, and how to stop them. Wren is basically a better, stronger version of Demi. He has more HP than anyone else, period. He also has very high defense, and his Gun weapons are much more powerful than the ones that Demi uses. With both Flare and Spark, Wren is equipped to handle both Biomonsters and Mechs. Wren does have a few weaknesses, namely his magic defense, which is generally horrendous due to his having a 0 Mental stat. This means that he spends the better part of most Boss battles using Recover repeatedly instead of contributing. He is also a bit on the slow side, and since he is an Android, he is completely bereft of TP and Techniques. Techniques learnable: none. Skills learnable: Recover, Flare, Spark, Barrier, HiJammer, BurstRoc(ket), Posi(tron) Bolt Overall: Wren is a welcome addition to the party, stepping in to fill Gryz' shoes as the, uh, guy who can take a hit - only he does it better. He can take the hits and dish them right back out, which helps immensely. His greatest weakness is his magic defense, which is beyond abyssmal, and results in his taking more than his fair share of damage in most Boss battles. Wren will be with you permanently, so you had better get used to him. However, I think you'll be okay with that. ----- Raja - Priest, Male Age: 85 Starting Level: 25 Class Type: Primary Healer, undead slayer. After the Party "crashes" Raja's temple, he decides that he was bored of being in charge of the temple, anyway. He invites himself to tag along with the Party, supposedly in order to help them find an alternative means of leaving Dezolis. That, and he hopes to find to good time. Along the way, Raja continuously states his belief that the foul Garuberk Tower is the cause of the current unending Blizzard that is threatening Dezolis. No one seems to believe him, but perhaps they ought to. Raja may be more than he seems... Raja's strengths are an insane amount of TP, excellent magic defense, and a dangerously high Mental score. He also has passable physical defense, and his Skills are very powerful and useful. His selection of healing and recovery abilities is without equal. Raja's weaknesses include low HP and no way to deal damage to anything that isn't undead or unholy: his attack power is pathetic, and he has no damage dealing Techniques. He's also very slow. Techniques learnable: Res (Gi,Na), Anti, Rimpa, Sar (Gi,Na), Arows, Rimit, Seals, Rever, Regen Skills learnable: Blessing, HolyWord, Ataraxia, Miracle, St. Fire Overall: Raja is a bit like Hahn, except that his focus in not on Biomonsters, but on foes that are undead or otherwise rely on the evil energies of Dark Force. As such, his Techs deal exclusively in healing and recovery, while his Skills are a blend of recovery and undead slaying. The main problem with Raja is that he literally cannot hurt anything unless it's undead/unholy. However, his ability to heal the Party is second to none. And with Ataraxia, Raja doubles as your own personal Inn. Don't be afraid to abuse Ataraxia! ----- Kyra - Esper, Female Age: 18 Class Type: Ranged Fighter and jack-of-all-trades. After the Party rescues her from the carniverous forest, Kyra accompanies them to the Esper Mansion, where they mean to seek out the assistance of the most powerful Esper of all, the legendary Lutz. Kyra may be roung and reckless, but she means well, and she is a good ally to have. Hopefully her crush on Lutz won't complicate matters for the rest of the Party... If Kyra has a strength, it's her ability to use Slashers to damage all foes at once, and the use of the Medice Skill, which can heal even androids, and for a signifigant amount of HP. She also has a LOT of TP. However, her other stats are all completely average, and she doesn't have too many HP, either. Also, her offensive Techniques leave a bit to be desired. I mean, really, GiFoi and Gra, this late in the game? Her Flaeli and Hewn Skills are a joke compared to Rune's. Techniques learnable: Res (Gi,Na), Foi (Gi,Na), Anti, Rimpa, Gra (Gi, Na) Skills learnable: Medice, Flaeli, Telele, Hewn, Warla, Bindwa, Tandle Overall, Kyra is a useful character that does a lot of things well but has no real outstanding strengths or debilitating weaknesses. Her slashers do good damage, but she has only moderate HP and defense. She has a lot of TP, but not a lot of useful Techs to use them with. She has a nice balance of offensive and defensive abilities, but with her slightly-above-average Mental score, her abilities aren't as strong as say, Rune's or Raja's. She's Rune without the insane Mental score; Raja without the ability to utterly obliterate the undead; Alys without the powerful offensive abilities. A jack- of-all-trades, and a master of none. ----- Seth - Scholar, Male Age:?? Class Type: Weak melee fighter and Battle-Skill user Seth is a mysterious "traveling archeologist" who accompanies the Party while they are exploring the Soldier's Temple in search of an important artifact. Not much is know about him, but he seems to be able to hold his own in battle. And don't some of his skills seem a bit, oh, I dunno, familiar? Seth would be compeletely pathetic if not for his array of potent Skills. With attacks like Corrosion and DeathSpell at his command, Seth can kill monsters with the best of them. Weaknesses? Let's see... pathetic, Hahn-like attacks, mediocre HP, and poor speed and magic defense. No TP or Techs, although he DOES have a Mental score higher than 0. Once again, Seth would be a joke if it weren't for his insane Skills. Techniques learnable: none. Skills learnable: Shadow, Corr(o)sion, MindBl(a)st, D(ea)thSpell Overall, Seth is a very limited character. Sure, those Skills are nice, but that's ALL HE HAS. On the bright side, Seth won't be with you long after you clear out the Soldier's Temple. ----- OK, that's all of the playable characters. We now proceed to... ---------------------------- 5. Complete Game Walkthrough ---------------------------- Before I begin, let me tell you the about the general layout of this walkthrough. Basically, it goes like this: I start off by paraphrasing the storyline. Then, I tell you what Town you are currently in - or the one you should be heading to. Once in town, I list the things you can do there: what the shops sell, what rumors are floating around town, who you need to talk to, and other things of that nature. From there, I give directions to the next dungeon you're supposed to tackle. Each Dungeon walkthrough will go like this: First, I'll list all the monsters and items that you can find in chests (or other places) in this dungeon. I'll then give the Level I think that most of your Party members ought to be at to tackle this dungeon, and a Level you should really make a serious attempt to be at when you fight the Boss and/or complete the dungeon (not all dungeons have Bosses). After all that, I list the floor or level you start on, and then I give you directions on how to get to all the treasure chests on said level. Then, I tell you the shortest route the stairs (or elevator, or whatever) that lead to the next part/level/floor of the dungeon. I will repeat these last two steps until you encounter a Boss and/or reach the end of the dungeon. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that I will frequently use N, S, E, and W in place of North, South, East, and West!! (If I didn't, this file would be a megabite instead of only 500K. I'm almost serious about that.) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Boss section will tell you the best way to take down the beastie with the characters you currently have, at the Level I recommended they be at at the start of the Dungeon walkthrough. I'll list what each character should be doing and when, as well as describing what the boss can do to you, and a rough estimate of its HP. Not all dungeons end with Bosses, so some dungeons obviously will not have a Boss section in their walkthroughs. Other things I'll include are general tips on how to fight the various monsters that you'll encounter, and (most importantly) what new Techs and Skills your characters will learn by reaching the Recommended Level. I'll also tell you what these new Skills and Techs are best used for, and how much TP they consume (in the case of Techniques). In addition, I will give in-depth coverage of each side-quest (or side-dungeon) as soon as you are able to get to it. If you don't feel like doing the side- quest (they are optional, after all), I'll even tell you what section to scroll down to in order to skip the side-quest and get on with your mission. Hrmm, that should be about it. On with the walkthrough! ------------------------------------ Introduction: Chaz and Alys' new Job ------------------------------------ Things start off with Alys and Chaz, in Alys' home in Aeido. Alys tells Chaz that his training has ended and he is now a full-fledged Partner. Chaz is pleased about this, until Alys yells at him to get a move on: they have a new Job that they've been hired to do. As they leave Aeido, Chaz asks Alys for some more info, and she says that they are going to Motavia Academy in the far off town of Piata. And so, off they head for Piata... A cut scene then describes how Biomonsters have been increasing in number in recent years, and how a new class of people has emerged to combat them: Hunters. Fade out, fade in... and we find Chaz standing by himself in a corner. Now, you can finally take control of Chaz and the game begins in earnest. --------------- Motavia Academy --------------- Unless you're legally blind, it shouldn't be too hard to find Alys, although you can always explore the rooms to the North first, if you like. In this game, you'll be rewarded with amusing and/or informative messages if you search things. "Things" include objects such as: books or papers on desks, bookcases, cupboards and cabinets, people's kitchens, fireplaces, jars, mirrors... well, you get the idea. Searching never yields plot-important info or nets you items, but it IS kinda fun to read what Chaz has to say about darn near everything. At any rate, once you hook up with Alys, she'll tell you that the Academy's Principal has all the details of the Job, and thus they should find and talk to him. You can do this right away or you can explore the Academy and town first; it doesn't matter much, as people say pretty much the same things whether you've spoken to the principal or not, and you can't leave town in any case until you complete the Job. You might notice a statue on the first floor of the Acedemy. If you search it, you'll see that it refers to a "Dr. Lubetz". Welcome to the wonderful world of discrepencies, boys and girls! This statue is obviously supposed to be a bust of Doctor Luveno, who helped the Heroine Alis from the original Phantasy Star. Now, how do you get "Lubetz" out of "Luveno"? I don't know, but this is the first of many transration oddities I'll point out in this walkthrough, mainly because they bother me and I want to gripe about them. Enjoy! The Principal's office is that big doorway due NW of where you rejoin Alys. Once you've satified your wanderlust, head into his office and chat it up with our nameless Principal friend. After some pointless chitchat, the Principal finally gets to the heart of the matter: about a month ago, monsters began appearing in the Academy's basement, and the Principal wants you to go a-monster hunting. Alys does a bit of prying as to the whole "how did monsters get into a town?" mystery before the Principal tells her to stop asking questions and start killing monsters. Alys comments on the Principal's evasive behavior once you leave his office. The Academy's basement is the game's first Dungeon, so if you're feeling nervous or inadequate, you can take the 500 Mesata you start off with and buy some Monomates (basic healing items) from the Item Shop in town, but it really shouldn't be necessary. You have Res, the basic healing spell, and the monsters (including the, um, "boss") really aren't that tough. At any rate, the entrance to the basement is on the First Floor, in the same spot the Principal's office is on the Second Floor. Here you will find Hahn pacing back and forth, preventing anyone from getting to the stairs that lead to our friendly monster-infested basement. Talk at him. He begs you to take him with you into the basement. When Alys asks why, he explains that he is an assistant to Professor Holt, who disappeared while doing research at nearby Birth Valley. Shortly thereafter, the Principal issued a decree that no one else was allowed to go to Birth Valley, and has since evaded questions as to why it's suddenly off-limits. Hahn thinks there is a connection between the Birth Valley quarantine and the sudden appearance of monsters in the Academy's basement. And so, after Alys extorts 100 Mesata out of Hahn (she basically makes him hire her and Chaz as bodyguards), he officially joins the Party and the path to the first dungeon lies before you... -------------------- The Academy Basement -------------------- Monsters found in this Dungeon: Xanafalgue, Zoran Bult Items found in this Dungeon: Monomate, 100 Mesata, Antidote The Boss of this dungeon is: Igglanova, the pathetic test tube Biomonster Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 1, Alys 7 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 1 or 2, Alys 7 Well, here we are, the first dungeon. It's short, fairly straightforward, and the monsters are weak, so it's not a bad idea to wander back and forth in one of the long hallways, fighting random battles to get a feel for the game's combat system. The XP and Mesata you earn by fighting these weak creatures is helpful, but you can beat the boss at Level 1 without any problems, so fighting enough battles to get Chaz and Hahn up to Level 2 in this place is entirely up to your descrection. I recommend that you just skip leveling up here, as the monsters outside Piata are worth twice the XP and really aren't any more dangerous than what you're fighting here. Basic Combat strategies: Alys starts out at Level 7 to Chaz and Hahn's 1. As such, she will be invincible in this place. The monsters can only deal 1 HP of damage to her, and she has enough TP and Vortexes to kill most anything at a whim. You can just use the pre-set Macro A to win most battles down here with a minimum of fuss. Just keep an eye on Chaz and Hahn's HP - unlike Alys, they can take up to 5-6 damage per hit, and they don't have that many HP... yet. So don't be afraid to have either Chaz or Hahn whip out a Res spell if either one loses more than 15 HP or so. Don't forget that Alys' Boomerang can hit every monster at once! P.S. Macro A works better if you change its order to Alys, Chaz, Hahn instead of Chaz, Alys, Hahn. Trust me on this one. As for the foes you'll face down here, there are two types: Xanafalgues are weak little critters. You should have no problem with these as they have very little HP, poor defense, low attack power, and lack any sort of special attack. Just attack with your weapons (think Macro A) and take them down. Zoran Bults, on the other hand, can be a bit of a threat. They can do some decent damage to Chaz or Hahn, and they have a few more HP than Xanafalgues. Still, don't do anything drastic like using up a Vortex on them; just be cautious and watch Chaz' and Hahn's HP, and be ready to cast Res if necessary. If you encounter them singly, it's not a bad idea to end the battle quickly with Alys' Foi Technique. Now, for your character's Skills and Techniques: Alys starts at Level 7, and begins the game with the following abilities: Skills Vortex: Alys can use this Skill to deal around 50 damage to a single enemy. Try to save these for the "boss", Igglanova, as this skill will take him down in the shortest amount of time. Techs Foi: Basic Fire Tech. Deals around 30 damage. A good way to quickly dispose of those annoying Zoran Bults and other weak individual foes. Uses 3 TP. Shift: Increases 1 Ally's Attack Power. An excellent Tech to whip out for Boss battles, but kind of a waste against normal foes. Uses 7 TP. SaNer: Increases the entire Party's battle speed. But since your Party is faster than these monsters 90% of the time, it's a waste to use it here. Uses 6 TP. Chaz starts at Level 1, and begins the game with the following abilities: Skills Earth: Paralyzes one foe for 1 round (sometimes 2). Don't bother; attack instead. Techs Res: Restores about 25 HP to a single Party member. Uses 3 TP. Don't forget to use this to heal either Chaz or Hahn if they lose more than 15 HP or so. Hahn starts at Level 1, and begins the game with the following abilities: Skills Vision: Increases the Party's Dexterity, which means you'll get more Critical Hits and take slightly less damage (provides a minor Defense Power boost). If you don't feel like watching Hahn do 8 whole damage with his knives, use this, but save at least 1 for Igglanova. Techs Res: The same Tech that Chaz has; however, since Hahn has a higher Mental score, his Res will recover more HP per casting than Chaz' will. Uses 3 TP. Gelun: Attempts to lower the Attack Power of all foes, but has a very low success rate, and it really sucks up Hahn's TP. It also will not work on Igglanova. I wouldn't bother with this one. Uses 4 TP. Walkthrough: ------------ Floor B1F (Monomate, 100 Mesata) As soon as you walk downstairs, you'll see a chest to the West. Head on over there and snag the Monomate it contains. From here, you can see a set of stairs leading down to the next floor, again just to the West of where you are standing. Once you walk West and approach the area where the staircase is, you'll notice that there is a side passage that leads even further West. You may as well follow it, as it leads to a small room with another chest. This one contains 100 Mesata. Now you can go back and head down the stairs, which take you to... Floor B2F (Antidote) Once again, there is a chest immediately to the West. This one contains an ever-useful Antidote. Whoo. Let's move on. Following a rather disturbing trend, you can again see the next staircase from the chest, and again it's a hop, skip, and a jump to the West. Descend the stairs, and you'll find yourself on... Floor B3F ("Boss": Igglanova) This very small floor contains nothing but monster breeding capsules (!) and our good buddy Igglanova, who is presumably spawning most of the Xanafalgues that you've been slaughtering wholesale. Once you put him down, your task will have been completed... right? Igglanova the Pathetic (300 HP) Iglanova is technically a Boss, but it's such a pushover. It only has two attacks, but only one deals damage, and if you play your cards right, Iggy won't ever even use it. Anyway, its attacks are as follows: Fission: if Iggy is alone or only has 1 Xanafalgue at its side when its turn comes up, it will use this ability to spit a new Xana out. Iggy also has a regular attack, which it will ONLY use if there are two living Xanafalgues when its turn comes up. Thus, if you have Alys and/or Chaz disposing of the Xanas and being diligent about NEVER letting a new round of combat start with 2 Xanas still left alive, Iggy will never so much as lay a slimy tentacle on you. And even if does, it won't do all that much damage, anyway. I recommend doing the following: Alys should alternate between tossing her 'rang (to weaken the Xanas that Iggy is constantly producing) and nailing Iggy with Vortexes. Chaz' time is best spent alternating between attacking weakened Xanas and Iggy itself every round. If Hahn can kill a weakened Xana, have Chaz attack Iggy instead, since he does more damage. Hahn should definately use Vision in the first round of combat, and then just have him mop up the wounded Xanas in subsequent rounds with physical attacks. This frees up the much more powerful Chaz to attack Iggy more often. If you so desire, you can have Alys cast Shift on herself and Chaz to boost their attack power, but that's two rounds spent boosting yourself when you could be nailing Iggy with Vortexes. Pass. Iggy does have one thing going for it: 300 HP, which seems like a lot; however, since the above strategy ensures that he never once attacks your Party... well, suffice to say you'll put old Iggy down with extraordinary ease. *Begin Rant* In fact, this "boss" battle is SO easy, I even loaded up a savestate from before I fought it and tried to make it a bit harder: by using a Level 1 Party, and only physical attacks. I still won without him touching me; it was sad. However, things WILL only get harder (a LOT harder) from here on out, so if this thing somehow gives you trouble, do yourself a favor and just set the controller down now. *End Rant* After the fight is over, Alys tries to humble the excited Chaz by telling him that he needs practice: his swing is too slow. Alys then asks Hahn if he knows anything about the monster breeding capsules. Hahn claims to know nothing about them, and Alys says she'll believe him... for now. The Party decides to back and ask the Principal a few questions. From here, you must backtrack out of the basement... ------------------------------ The Motavia Academy, revisited ------------------------------ ...and hike back on up to the Principal's office. The Principal insists on playing dumb until Alys begins threatening him physically, at which point he caves in (the wuss), and begins telling you everything you want to know. He begins by saying that Professor Holt identified Birth Valley as the source of a recent monster outbreak. The Professor and his team of researchers found the remains of an ancient-yet-advanced civilization deep in Birth Valley! They brought back the monster breeding capsules they found there to the Academy for study, and departed immediately for a second expidition, from which they never returned. Hahn acuses the Principal of twiddling his thumbs and doing nothing to rescue the missing scientists, but the Principal says it was because, as he was organizing a rescue party, a man named Zio appeared before him... Using his dark magic, Zio showed the Principal a vision of the research team, all of whom - even Professor Holt - had been turned to stone in the depths of Birth Valley. He threatens to do the same to the Principal if he doesn't keep everyone else out of Birth Valley. After hearing all this, Hahn rashly decides that he must head to Birth Valley himself and try to help the research team. Alys reminds him of the dangerous Sandworms that prowl the area, and offers to tag along for a mere 300 mesata. Hahn readily agrees, and tells them that Birth Valley is to the Northeast. We'll head out for Zema and Birth Valley in a minute, but first let's take a good look at... ----------------- The Town of Piata ----------------- Inn: 5 mesata per person (15 mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20 mesata Not much to do here at all, really. I would advise staying at the Inn to quickly recover your lost HP, TP, and Skill "charges". You can talk to the townspeople, but most of them don't have anything terribly important to say. However, one of the stundents in the dormatories mentions that one of his classmates joined a strange new religion and disappeared; this will become important later on. Once you're done chatting it up with the townsfolk, exit the town (the town's gate in the center of the south wall), and we'll begin our journey... ---------------------- To the Village of Mile ---------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 1 or 2, Alys 7 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 3, Alys 7 Foes you might face: MonsterFly, Crawler There's actually a small town between you and Birth Valley, and it has both a Weapon and an Armor shop, so it's worth your while to stop off there. From Piata, head just a bit to the East and then head almost due North. You'll probably encounter a few foes along the way, but don't let them scare you. As I stated earlier, they're not much tougher than what you fought in the Academy's basement. The monsters you'll face out here are: MonsterFlies, which are a bit like Xanafalgues, but much faster. Thier attacks can deal a bit of damage, but they don't have many HP and are pretty easy to kill with Alys' Boomerang. Crawlers are harder to kill than MonsterFlies, but not by much. If you want, you can have Alys cast Foi to eliminate one insantly. Otherwise, just use Macro A. It's not a bad idea to kill enough random baddies to reach Level 3, if you aren't already. The extra HP, TP, and stats will make the upcoming trek into Birth Valley much easier. After heading NNE for a bit, you'll see a village just south of a large patch of quicksand. Note the sinister-looking building on the other side of the (currently uncrossable) quicksand. At any rate, the aforementioned village is our next destination. Let us explore... ------------------- The Village of Mile ------------------- Inn: 10 mesata per person (30 mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20; Antidote 10 Armor shop: Lthr-Helm 80; Lthr-Crown 90; Lthr-Band 70; LthrShield 140 Weapon shop: Dagger 40; Hunt-Knife 120; Stel-Sword 280; Boomerang 80; Slasher 160 The first thing to do here is hit the Weapon and Armor shops. This is another reason I told you to Level Up outside of town: you'll need a fair amount of Mesata. Be sure to purchase all of the following: For Chaz, a Stel-Sword. Don't sell his two Hunt-Knives just yet (see Hahn, below). For Alys, get 2 Slashers. Now Alys can REALLY dish out the damage. Sell her old, obsolete Boomerang. Since Hahn is getting Chaz' hand-me-downs, you don't need to buy him anything, really. You can just equip him with Chaz' old Hunt-Knives. HOWEVER, I STRONGLY recommend an alternative to Hunt-Knives: buy and equip him with 2 LthrShields. "But Marak," I can hear you cry, "If Hahn has 2 Shields equipped, he won't be able to attack!" And you'd be right. But you never need to attack with Hahn: he deals much more damage with Wat - which he will learn at Level 4 - and has enough TP to cast it repeatedly. If you find him running low on TP, just use Vision. So, for now, give Hahn a Hunt-Knife or two, and once he hits Level 4, slap on the LthrShields. You can also buy a couple of Monomates if you like, but with Hahn and Chaz both able to restore the Party's HP with Res, they really shouldn't be necessary. If you blew a bunch of TP leveling up outside of town, feel free to hit the Inn and heal up. Having enough Mesata should be no problem, between the Mesata you've harvested from fallen foes and the cash you've bilked out of poor Hahn. Don't forget to sell any old weapons you have left over after upgrading at the shops! Points of Interest in town include: A fledgeling sand worm ranch at the entrance to town. There's only an immature sand worm burrowing about at the moment, but this location will become important later, so try to keep it in the back of your mind. And, uh, that's about it. This town is here mainly to intoduce you to Quicksand and to upgrade your weaponry. Let's move on, shall we? ------------------- To the Town of Zema ------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 2 or 3, Alys 7 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 3 or 4, Alys 7 Foes you might face: MonsterFly, Crawler The next destination, Zema, is home to this Birth Valley everyone is so concerned about. To get there, simply head due NE. You'll see Zema at the base of a mountain range. Go ahead and enter. You'll notice that there are several ways to go once you reach Zema, however, most lead to nothing at this point. If you go NW, you'll find a broken, uncrossable bridge. To the S, you'll find the Village of Molcum, but a pair of crabby Motavian gatekeepers won't let you in the village. East of Molcum is Hahn's hometown of Krup. Here you can find out some things about Hahn a bit ahead of schedule, and buy some better equipment if you can afford it, but since the monsters in Birth Valley are so weak, there's really no point in doing so. If you go N of Krup, you'll find a cave, but the entrance is blocked by a landslide. So, basically, you can go a LOT of places right now, but you can't do anything relevant to the storyline until you find Professor Holt deep in Birth Valley. So, let's go do that now. ---------------- The Town of Zema ---------------- Inn: Locked. Item Store: Locked. Armor Store: Locked. Weapon Store: Locked. Yep, you read that right. Every building in this town is locked up tight. You'll also notice that it's not just the researchers in Birth Valley that were turned to stone by Zio; the whole town has been petrified! You can "talk" to the statues to elicit a reaction from Chaz, but there's literally nothing you can do except head north, into Birth Valley (the cave in the back of town). ------------ Birth Valley ------------ Monsters found in this Dungeon: Xanafalgue, Zoran Bult, FlattrPlnt Items found in this Dungeon: CrbnShield, Monomate, Crbn-Suit Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 3 or 4, Alys 7 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 4, Alys 7 Well, here we are: the infamous Birth Valley. This is another short dungeon so don't be afraid to tackle it even if you're not fully healed or a bit low on TP. There are two nice pieces of armor here: the Carbon Shield and Carbon Suit. Both are better than what you have, so be sure to snag them before meeting up with Professor Holt and his researchers. General combat strategies: You've fought Xanafalgues and Zoran Bults before, and with your new weapons, they're complete pushovers. There is one new monster here: The FlattrPlnt. Uh, Flattr? Flutter with an a? Plants that are flatter than normal? At any rate, these things are a bit tougher than Xanas and Zorans, due to their Acid Spit attack, which can deal 10-12 damage to a single character. They're pretty rare, however, so fear not. Just nail them with a Vortex when they do pop up and watch them go down. Your characters should reach these levels and gain these abilities: Chaz will learn the Tsu Tech at Level 4. Similar to Hahn's Wat, but instead of being ice/water element, it's Holy element. Holy element isn't anything spectacular right now, but it becomes very important later on. Anyway, as I was saying, Tsu is similar to Wat but more powerful. However, it uses up a staggering (for Chaz) 6 TP, so try not to use it unless you're REALLY in a bind. Chaz needs to save his TP for healing and let Hahn use his more TP-efficient Wat. Speaking of which... Hahn learns the Wat Tech at Level 4. This will be the mainstay of Hahn's offense for quite a while. Wat costs only 4 TP, but it deals about 35 damage (on average) to most foes, and it will do even more damage as Hahn's Level increases and his Mental stat goes up. Hahn generally has enough TP that you can make this his primary attack; that is, don't be afraid to have Hahn cast this instead of attacking. With Wat in his arsenal, Hahn can forego using weapons at all, and instead cast Wat while hiding behind a pair of shields. Sure, it sounds silly, but it's surprisingly effective in practice. Walkthrough: ------------ Floor 1F (Carbon Shield, Monomate) Head N until you come to an East/West T intersection. Go E first, and you'll come across a chest containing a CrbnShield. Equip this on Hahn if you're using my "Mage Hahn" advice, then backtrack to the T intersection and go W this time. Follow the passage as it almost immediately turns N. Ignore the side passage to the E for now and continue going N. You'll soon stumble across another chest, which contains a Monomate. Now backtrack and take that E passage you bypassed earlier. Follow it E, then N, then W, and you'll come to a staircase that takes us down to... Floor B1F (Carbon Suit, Professor Holt) Head N from the Stairs and you'll soon come to another E/W T intersection; head E first, following the path as it curves to the N. Take the Crbn-Suit out of the chest you'll find at the end of the passage. This can be worn by Chaz, Alys, OR Hahn... Personally, I would give it to Chaz, as he will eventually surpass Alys in HP and move to the front of the Party formation, but the choice is yours. Now, head back to the T intersection and head W. Once again, the path will turn N immediately. After a short walk, you'll find yourself in a wide passage - filled with petrified people! Looks like you've found what you came here to find... Sure enough, the Petrified people are none other than Professor Holt and company, all turned to stone by Zio's dark magic. That's right, no Boss for this dungeon, just stoned scholars. Hahn will immediately recognize the man standing in front of the large metal doors as Professor Holt. Alys says that she can't believe that anyone is able to inflict a potent magical curse on people in this age of Techniques and technology. She also mentions that she's heard of a medicine that can restore stone to flesh called "Alshline". (Ahh, more fun with bizarre transration issues. In Phantasy Star, this same medicine was called "Alsulin". How you get "Alshline" from one transrator and "Alsulin" from another is beyond me.) At any rate, Alys says she heard about Alshline being found in the Motavian village (as in, peopled by native Motavians) of Molcum, far to the south. Hahn insists on rushing off to Molcum immediately, and Alys generously agrees to tag along for a mere 500 Mesata. Who needs to fight biomonsters for Mesata when you've got Cash Cow Hahn to milk? The game then takes you back to entrance to Birth Valley. Leave Zema and its cursed population behind for now; it's time to travel... ------------------------ To the Village of Molcum ------------------------ Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 4, Alys 7 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7 Foes you might face: MonsterFly, Crawler, Locusta, Sand Newt From Zema, head S, keeping the mountains to your left (and the river to your right). After a bit of a walk, you'll see Molcum just a teensie bit to the East. If you're not Level 5 yet, you should really fight some more Biomonsters until you are. Speaking of biomonsters, let's run down the new ones you may encounter: Locusta: these guys are kind of nasty. They have around 70 HP and can deal a fair amount of damage. Don't be afriad to use Vortex, Wat, or even Tsu to take them down quickly. Sand Newt: These guys can be dangerous in large numbers. They have about 50 HP, decent defense, and a painful attack. Use Wat if you can, as it really does a number on them. Alys' slashers will also help to soften them up. If you get 4 of these in a battle, you can get almost 100 exp. Not too shabby. When you're ready (and Level 5), feel free to enter... --------------------- The Village of Molcum --------------------- No shops. This village looks normal... until you move North only to see the blasted remains of buildings..! There is no one to be found - save for the mysterious white-cloaked figure standing in the midst of the destruction. You may as well talk to him, as it appears that this person is the only one who may have a clue as to what happened here. The man's name is Rune, and Alys seems to know him, but neither says how they might have met. Rune comes off as more than a little aroganat, and he seems to enjoy taunting Chaz (possibly because he is amused by Chaz' hotheaded reactions). Despite all this, Rune is actually quite knowledgeable, and since you're in Alys' company, willing to help you out. After some prodding, Rune tells you that Molcum's destruction was at the hands of (no wait, you'll never guess)...Zio!! No way man, no way! Ahem, sorry... At this point, Hahn mumbles something about Alshline, and Rune suggests that if you're looking for that, you should head to the nearby, not-destroyed Motavian town of Tonoe, to the north. He also suggests that you stop by Krup, due East of here, before setting off for Tonoe. Hahn REALLY doesn't want to stop at Krup, but since when does anyone care what Hahn wants? Rune also decides to tag along(!), saying that he has some business in Tonoe as well. Chaz isn't too thrilled about Rune coming with, but Alys is the Boss here. Grow a pair, Chaz! And so, you get to play with Rune! Let's do a Rune Rundown, shall we? Rune, Wizard, starting Level: 17. Techniques Foi: Foi is your basic Fire attack Tech. Cheap TP-wise, but not too powerful. Well, okay, when Rune uses Foi, it blows the damage Alys can do with Foi right out of the, uh, water. Yeah. Rune rules. And Foi uses 3 TP. Gra: Gra uses pockets of intense gravity to deal insane damage to ALL your foes at once. It uses 10 TP, but casting it will end any battle instantly at this point - none of the monsters in these parts can survive the damage it deals. Wat: You should be familiar with Wat, but Rune's does much more damage, due to his much higher Mental stat. Uses 4 TP. Arows: Awakens sleeping Party members. You'll probably never use this. To boot, it eats up 9 (!) TP if you do. Hinas: Escape from the dungeon you are currently in. ONLY works in dungeons (for obvious reasons). Uses 8 TP. Ryuka: Warps the Party to any previously visited town. Only functions when you're in a Town or on the World Map. Uses 8 TP. Skills Hewn: It's just like Gra, except that it's a Skill instead of a Tech, and it uses tearing winds instead of gravity pockets. Like Gra, it deals so much damage that using it will slay whatever you're currently fighting. Flaeli: Magic that is similar to Foi, except that it's a Skill instead of a Tech. For being "free" (i.e. consumes no TP), it sure does a lot of damage. In fact, it seems to do MORE damage than Foi, so I recommend you use this up first, then switch to Foi and Wat. It's not like he doesn't have enough "charges" of it. OK, here's the deal: Rune is a god at this point. He's (generally) your fastest Party member, so have him cast Gra or use Hewn in every battle to end it in one fell swoop. This a great way to power up: drain Rune dry of TP and Hewn charges; stay at an Inn; lather, rinse, repeat. Go ahead, try it! It's fun! If you REALLY want to get those pesky random battles over with quickly, set up the following two "Rune Macros": 1) Rune: Gra, everone else: attack 2) Rune: Hewn, everyone else: attack Enjoy! ------------------- To the Town of Krup ------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7, Rune 17 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7, Rune 17 Foes you might face: Crawler, Sand Newt, Locusta Krup is literally only one "screen" to the East, so you won't have to strain yourself getting there or anything. Play with Rune's godliness if you want - there's going to be some new equipment to buy once you enter Krup, so try to have at least 1,800 Mesata handy, if not more. Heck, just suck Rune dry (as described above) because it's easy, EASY XP and Mesata - you can always rest in Krup's Inn to restore your (his) TP and Skills. When you're ready, head East and a smidge North, and enter... ---------------- The Town of Krup ---------------- Inn: 15 mesata per person (60 mesata) Item Store: Monomate 20; Antidote 10; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Armor Store: Crbn-Helm 200; Crbn-Crown 150; Circlet 100; Crbn-Suit 550; CrbnShield 220 Ahh, Krup. You'll notice right away that most people in this town seem to know our good buddy Hahn... they ought to, as this is his hometown. The Armor shop is where Hahn's parents live: his dad acts all peeved because Hahn left to study at the Academy rather than make Crbn armor for a living... but his mom tells him to just ignore the old codger: they both still love their son. How sweet. You can also meet Hahn's fiancee (!!) Saya at the town's school. She and Hahn will share a moment before Hahn leaves her to resume the Search for Alshline. By the way, Saya's School is a riot. Be sure to talk to the kids, and seach ALL of the bookshelves, the kids' desks, both ends of the blackboard, the dressers in the back room, the mirror... everything! Some rather amusing stuff to see here, if you're thorough. After talking to Hahn's folks, be sure to stop by the business end (ba bum BUM) of the Armor shop, and purchase the following: For Chaz, a Carbon Helm, and a Carbon Suit if you didn't give him the one you found in Birth Valley. For Alys, a Carbon Crown, and a Carbon Suit if you didn't give her the one you found in Birth Valley. For Hahn, a Circlet, and a Carbon Suit if you didn't give him the one you found in Birth Valley. You can also buy him a second Carbon Shield if you're following my "Mage Hahn" build (you ARE, aren't you?). The only thing that Rune can use from this shop is the Circlet, but he already has one, so you don't need to get him anything at all. Once you're fully equipped (don't forget to sell all that now-worthless Leather equipment!!) and well rested, it's time to leave Krup behind and begin the journey to Tonoe. --------------------------------------------- To the cave which leads to Tonoe (ValleyMaze) --------------------------------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7, Rune 17 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7, Rune 17 Foes you might face: Crawler, Sand Newt, Locusta Another long, arduous journey. Follow the river N, then E, and you'll see a cave just a bit more to the North. Go ahead and enter it. Chaz will notice, quite astutely, that the entrance is blocked by a rather sizable stack of rocks and boulders. However, Rune clears a path by blasting the stones aside with his Flaeli magic. Hahn mentions that he doesn't recognize Rune's Technique, and Rune explains that it's not a Technique - it's actual Magic. Very unusual; not many people know Magic. Most use Techniques. Anyway, you are now free to enter the cave. Go on, it won't bite. ---------- ValleyMaze ---------- Monsters found in this Dungeon: Sand Newt, Blob, Carrion Cr(awler) Items found in this Dungeon: Antidote, 300 Mesata Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 5, Alys 7, Rune 17 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Hahn 6, Alys 8 (finally!), Rune 17 This place normally would give you a bit of trouble - if it weren't for Rune. Use your Rune Macros to slaughter anything that so much as looks at you the wrong way. This little cavern then becomes a hunt for the meager treasures found here before you sprint for the exit. General combat strategies: There are two new monsers to "contend" with in here. Or, to be more accurate, to look at briefly before Rune obliterates them: Blobs have high physical defense but very little HP. Strangely, their attack damage varies wildly, dealing 1 damage one time and 10 the next. Just use Wat, or better yet, Gra/Hewn to dispose of them quickly. The other new monster, the Carrion Cr(awler), is merely an upgraded (and palette-swapped) version of the reddish Crawlers you were fighting around Zema. Dispose of them as you see fit (GRA *cough* GRA). Oh, yeah, they have the frightening ability to use Thread. This fiendish ability forgoes dealing damage to instead lower one character's Agility. Be afraid; be very afraid! Your characters should reach these Levels and learn these abilities: At Level 6, Chaz will learn CrossCut, a handy little Skill that allows him to deal double damage to one enemy. However, until you go up a few levels and get more than a single "charge" of this at a time, it's best to save it for Bosses or unusually tough foes. At Level 6, Hahn will learn Anti, which will save you the hassle of having to buy those incredibly expensive Antidotes. Whee. Uses 2 TP. At Level 8, Alys will learn Zan. Zan is like Gra, in that it attacks all your foes at once. However, it's Wind-based instead of Gravity-based, and since Alys does NOT have the Mental abilities of Hahn or Rune, it actually doesn't deal that much more than her slashers do. Think of it as a stronger Slasher attack, and save it for large groups of tough foes (like four Sand Newts). Uses 8 TP. Walkthrough: ------------ Floor 1F (Antidote, 300 Mesata) Follow the winding passage until you come to a spot where a side passage branches off to the W. Ignore that side passage and instead continue into the chamber straight ahead. You'll find a chest with an Antidote with it. Now, go back and take that W passage, which turns N after a short time, and ends in an opening. Head through it. The opening leads to the next section of the dungeon. Head N, then W. You'll see a branching path that leads N, but it leads to nothing but a dead-end cavern, so just ignore it and continue heading W. The passage turns N after a short time, and ends in another opening. Again, go through it. You'll find yourself in the third major section of the dungeon. Walk N to a T-shaped intersection, and head E. Go through the opening that presents itself, and raid the chest in the watery chamber for a quick 300 Mesata. Now, turn around, and head W at the T intersection. This passage leads to another of those openings, which again you should enter. Once through the opening, you'll be in the fourth and final section of the dungeon. Walk due N for a while and you'll exit the cave. You'll appear exactly three feet away from Tonoe. Let's check the place out, shall we? ----------------- The Town of Tonoe ----------------- Suggested Level: Chaz & Hahn 6, Alys 8, Rune 17 Suggested Level to reach*: Chaz & Hahn 7-8, Alys 8-9, Rune 17* * You should reach at least Level 7 with Chaz/Hahn while collecting the necessary Mesata to buy all the new equipment this town offers. Inn: 15 mesata per person (60 mesata) Item Store: Monomate 20; Antidote 10; Cure-Paral 120; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Armor Store: Circlet 100; Titn-Helm 570; Crbn-Suit 550; Titn-Mail 1120; CrbnSheild 220; TitnShield 600 Weapon Store: Hunt-Knife 120; TitnDagger 240; Stel-Sword 280; Titn-Sword 560; Slasher 160; TitnSlashr 360 Let me start by saying: do NOT enter ANY building other than the Inn! If you speak with Grandfather Dorin in the building N of the Marketplace, Rune will leave the party, and you do NOT want that to happen just yet. Instead, let's hit the shops. In this town, the Weapon and Armor stores aren't located in nice, comfortable buildings. Oh no. Instead, they are found in unlabeled stalls in the marketplace in the SE corner of town: The Armor store is in the third stall from the left in the bottom row of stalls. The Tool store is in the second stall from the right in the bottom row of stalls. The Weapon store is the second stall from the left in the top row of stalls. The Motavian folk in this town are adept at making Titanium equipment, and that's mostly what you're going to find here. Unfortunately for you, Titanium is very pricy. In order to buy everything you need, you require at LEAST 4530 Mesata. I'd even recommend a few hundred more, for Cure-Parals and a couple of Inn stays. Yes, that's a LOT of cash, but we have a REAL easy way of getting both XP and Mesata, don't we? Yes, that's right, it's time to abuse Rune some more. Make sure your Rune Macros are set up (see Rune Rundown, above), and just use them over and over and over on the critters outside of town until you have enough Mesata. An alternative method is to just forget Rune abuse and head directly to the next dungeon, the Basement Warehouse. Rune will leave the Party, but you'll get a replacement (see below). In the Warehouse you will find large quantities of Mesata scattered about; you can loot 800 Mesata from the Warehouse, and pick up quite a bit more from the random battles there. It's your call. At any rate, get the money now, or get it later, just remember at some point to buy the following: For Chaz, pick up a Titn-Sword, a Titn-Helm, and a Titn-Mail. Be sure to sell your Stel-Sword, Crbn-Helm, and Crbn-Suit For Alys, puchase two TitnSlashrs and a Titn-Mail. Sell her old Slashers and Crbn-Suit. If you've been following my advice, Hahn will need nothing from either shop. If you're not doing my Mage Hahn thing, go ahead and get him either two TitnDaggers (or, just one TitnDagger & keep your CrbnShield). I would recommend getting Rune 2 CrbnShields and selling his worthless Wood-Cane. See, if you're having Rune attack, you're not following my advice anyway, so you might as well keep the cane. You should also buy a couple of Cure-Parals, since monsters in the upcoming dungeon can (and will, most likely) Paralyze someone at least once. Problem is, until Hahn learns the Rimpa Tech, Cure-Parals are the only way to cure Paralysis short of walking around and hoping that it wears off before the next battle (it will wear off "by itself", but only outside of battle after a seemingly random number of steps are taken). Getting an Escapipe isn't a bad idea, either. Yes, I know that both Chaz and Rune have Hinas to take you out of dungeons, but Rune is leaving you soon, and this way you can still escape if you accidently use up all of Chaz' TP. Right about this time, you'll notice that Chaz' HP and Defense will surpass Alys' HP and Defense, due mainly to the Defense boost Chaz gets from his Swords. So, right about the time Chaz hits Level 6 or 7, don't be afraid to re-arrange your Party to this order: Chaz, Alys, Rune, Hahn. From this point on, Alys will no longer be this invincible Tank that can absorb all kinds of punishment, so it's best to "back her off" a bit. And that's enough on equipment and such; onto the storyline. We're here for Alshline, remember? Talking to the townsfolk reveals little relevant info, other than a couple of hints to go to Grandfather Dorin with "questions". We can find Dorin in a white tent just to the North of the Marketplace. You can't miss him; he's the big Motavian in the comfy-looking chair. You may notice Gryz and his little sister standing off in the corner, but trying to talk to them at this point will yeild nothing, so don't bother unless you just HAVE to talk to everyone. Ironically enough, it is not any of your Party members, but Grandfather Dorin himself who asks the questions around here. If you answer "Yes" to either of the first two questions, you'll get a tidbit of dubiously useful information, but then you'll have to talk to Dorin again and start all over from the first question. However, when he asks you if want to know Alys' measurements, say "Yes". This will prompt a humorous response from Alys. Rune will calm things down a bit and finally manage to steer the conversation to the subject of Alshline. Dorin tells you that there's some Alshline in the basement warehouse out back. However, the warehouse is in a state of disuse and probably a teensie bit dangerous - i.e. filled with monsters and the like. Being the nice guy that he is, Dorin sends Gryz to help you along. At this point, Rune tells you that he's leaving with Grandfather Dorin. Before he disappears, however, he mysteriously issues a warning to Chaz: don't even think about trying to fight Zio; you're no match for him at this point. Chaz is a bit shell shocked at the idea, but before anyone comes up with any sort of appropriate comment, Rune and Dorin dash out of the tent. Fear not, you'll bump into Rune again, soon enough. At least he left you with a replacement Party member, right? Let's do a quick Gryz Rundown: Gryz, Motavian Warrior, Level 6 Techniques Brose: Attempts to instantly destroy all Mechanical enemies at once. The problem is, you don't fight any Mechanical enemies for quite some time, and even when you DO use this on them, it has an abysmal success rate. Uses 16 TP. Skills Crash (7): Crash is Gryz' other instant death ability. It works on any type of creature, and has a farily high success rate. However, unlike Brose, it can only affect one creature at a time. Still, it comes in handy for killing creatures quickly, or eliminating the biggest threat in a hurry. And that's it. Gryz is mainly here to take hits and attack physically. He does both of these things quite well, but he's still a boring, limited fighter with almost no tricks up his sleeve. And he's none too quick, either. After fighting a couple of battles with Gryz, you'll begin to REALLY miss your old pal, Rune - condescending comments and all. At least Gryz comes fully equipped with the lastest Titanium equipment, meaning that you don't have to buy him anything from the Marketplace. It also means that his attack and defense are even higher than Chaz'. Couple that with his higher HP, and you have a new Party "leader". Stick Gryz in the front position (so we now have Gryz, Chaz, Alys, Hahn) and let's go get us some Alshline. If you like, you can now speak to Pana, Gryz' sister, and she will give you a little backstory on where Gryz comes from and why he's so anti-Zio. The Warehouse is North and a bit West of Grandfather Dorin's house. "Search" the trapdoor you find there, and Gryz will open it for you. Note to the curious: no, you can't get into the Warehouse without Gryz in the Party; only he knows the "trick" to getting the trapdoor open. Now, it's time to tackle... ---------------------- The Basement Warehouse ---------------------- Monsters found in this Dungeon: Blob, Abe Frog, Toadstool, Carrion Cr(awler) Items found in this Dungeon: Monomate, 100 Mesata, 500 Mesata, 300 Mesata, Antidote, Titn-Crown, Escapipe, Alshline Suggested Level: 7 (Alys 8, Gryz 6) Suggested Level to reach: Gryz 8, Alys/Chaz/Hahn 9 Surprisingly enough, this is actually a somewhat lengthy and demanding dungeon, filled with a lot of treasure - and a lot of Biomonsters. Be sure to enter this place fully rested: you're gonna need those TP for this one, especially with Rune gone... General combat strategies: Grandfather Dorin was certainly right about one thing: this place is crawling with hostile critters. You'll encounter a few new foes down here: The Abe Frogs are pretty nasty. They have a lot of HP and their attack can really rip Alys or Hahn a new one, so try to Crash or Wat them before they are able to lick anyone to death. The Toadstools don't pack quite the punch that the Abe Frogs do, but they make up for it with numbers and a chance that each attack might Paralyze someone. Their low HP makes them fairly easy to take down, but you still want to be quick about it, lest you find yourself using up the last of your Cure-Parals. They also LOVE ganging up on Hahn, so watch his HP and be sure to Res him if he loses more than 25 HP. Try to have Chaz do all the healing, as Hahn will need his TP for continual Wat usage. Even though you've gone up a few Levels since the ValleyMaze, your characters are in a bit of a "we refuse to learn useful combat abilities" funk right now: Chaz learns Hinas at Level 8. This allows to you warp out of a dungeon, no matter where in the dungeon you are. It costs 8 TP but it will save you TONS of time throughout the game. In addition, Chaz learns Ryuka at Level 9. This outrageously useful Tech allows you to travel instantly to any town you have previously visited. It's actually very convenient that you learn this Tech at this level, as it will save you a long and annoying walk back to Zema. Uses 8 TP. Hahn learns Doran at Level 7. Another one of those "why bother?" Techs, Doran will lower the agility (battle speed) of all your foes at once, with a high probablity of success. But why lower their agility when you can just kill them? The only monsters I want to lower the agility of are the Bosses, and of course all of them are immune to Techs such as Doran. Sigh. Uses 4 TP. Fortunately, Hahn does learn Zan at Level 9. Hahn's Zan is much more effective than Alys' Zan, since Hahn's Mental stat is so much higher. If you have Alys attack, and have Hahn use Zan, you can kill mulitple foes in a single round! It does tend to suck up Hahn's TP quickly, though, so don't go overboard. Uses 8 TP. At Level 7, Gryz learns nothing. At Level 8, Gryz learns nothing. Isn't he fun? Walkthrough: ------------ Floor B1F (Monomate, 100 Mesata) From the stairs, head slightly W, then turn N, and go N until you can't any more. You'll see a chest to the W - open it up to procure a Monomate. Head back to the stairs; from there, go slightly E and then turn N. Head N until you can't go N no more. You'll walk into a second chest which contains 100 Mesata. Now, go back to the stairs and head due N to find a new set of stairs that descend down to... Floor B2F (500 Mesata, 300 Mesata) This one gets a bit confusing, so pay attention: from the stairs, head W, then S around the bend, and then take the first E passage you come to. You'll immediately hit a 4-way intersection: N and S both lead to small rooms. The N room is empty, but the S room contains a chest with 500 Mesata in it. Go back to the intersection and head E a bit more: you'll come to another 4 way intersection, again leading to small rooms N and S. Once again, the N room is empty, and the S room has a chest containing 300 Mesata. Now that you're filthy rich, go back all the way W and head S, follow the passage back E, and you'll hit the stairs down to... Floor B3F (Antidote, Titn-Crown) Oh no, more rooms. If you head E from the stairs you'll come across the stairs to B4F, but let's loot this floor before we go that way. Basically, there is a passage that wraps all the way around this floor, with another passage cutting it down the middle. Thus, the floor is split into 4 rooms. Each room is enterable via an opening in its West wall, and contains the following: NW room: a chest with an Antidote inside. SW room: nothing. NE room: nothing. SE room: a chest containing a Titn-Crown. Oh yeah! Slap this on Alys, pronto. Now, let's proceed to... Floor B4F (Escapipe, Alshline) This level is very straightforward. Head N, then E, and you'll see a set of large metal doors. You can't open them, but there's a way around. Keep heading W until you come a cave-ish area, then head N, E, and finally S through a break in the N wall of the room you just circled around. In this hard-to- enter room are three chests. One of them is open (and empty), but the other two remain unlooted. The right-hand chest contains an Escapipe (how convenient, an Escapipe at the very end of a dungeon), and the left-hand chest contains the ever-elusive magical medicine, Alshline. Opening the Alshline chest starts a short conversation: Hahn, of course, wants to immediately head back to Zema in order to de-stone the townsfolk (and Prof. Holt, of course). Gryz wants to tag along, because he thinks that you're going to fight Zio, because of what Rune said. Chaz evades the issue, saying that Rune was spouting random nonsense, and that they're "not necessarily" going to fight Zio. Alys says that it's okay for Gryz to come along; apparently she enjoys having a big blue meat shield standing in front of her in battle. Now that you're holding that big pink bottle of Alshline in your sweaty little hands, go ahead and use that Escapipe you just got to escape from The Basement. Once you're back in town, use a Telepipe or the Ryuka Technique to return to... ---------------- The Town of Zema ---------------- Inn: 20 Mesata per person (80 Mesata) Item Store: Monomate 20; Antidote 10; Cure-Paral 120; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Armor Store: Circlet 100; Crbn-Suit 550; Grpt-Suit 1200; CrbnShield 220; GrptShield 900 Weapon Store: Hunt-Knife 120; Stel-Sword 280; Slasher 160; Broad-Axe 1000 As soon as you enter Zema, the game will take over and show you a cut scene wherein your Party uses the Alshline to return the townsfolk and the research team to normal. The Good Professor, seemingly unfazed by his run-in with petrification, orders Hahn to head back to the Acedemy and make a report while he re-opens the investigation into the deeper levels of Birth Valley. Alys suggests that they take a well-deserved day off, and Chaz agrees. And so, we find the Party talking amongst themselves in the Inn. Hahn says that he's going to return to the Acedemy, while Gryz expresses his suicidal desires to fight Zio, even if he has to go alone. Chaz mentions that tackling Zio single-handed probably isn't the smartest thing to do, and Alys says that Standard Operation Procedure dictates that she and Chaz should return to Aeido, and report that their job is complete to the Hunter's Guild (which enriches the lives of hunters). At this point, someone screams in terror, and the Party rushes to investigate! As they near the entrance to Birth Valley, our good buddy Iggy reappears, barring entrance! "Boss": Iggy That's right, you get to fight Igglanova AGAIN. This is the EXACT same creature that you fought in the basement of the Academy. And if it was a pathetic excuse for a boss at Level 1, just imagine what it's like now... In fact, I'm not even going to give you a strategy. Do whatever you like, Iggy will die in a round or three, and we can get on with things. After the gueling, hard fought battle, Chaz asks Alys how his swing looks now, and Alys grudgingly concedes that it's gotten better. The superstitous townsfolk start going on and on about curses and the violation of "sacred" Birth Valley. Hahn expresses concern: monsters are coming out of Birth Valley, but none of the research team are. Alys generously offers to protect Hahn from the dangerous beasts of Birth Valley for a mere 1000 (!) Mesata. Hahn pouts about having to dip into his wedding fund but eventually agrees. Looks like we have a new Job on our hands, eh? Well, before we tackle the mysteries of Birth Valley, let's look around town. The townsfolk aren't much use here; they either thank you for unstoning them or they give vague warnings about going into Birth Valley. The real fun is in the shops. You should have more then enough Mesata - you only need 4000 - to cover things, but if you somehow do not, you get a crapload of Mesata from the monsters in the Bio Plant. At any rate, purchase the following when you can: For Hahn, a Grpt-Suit and at least one (*cough* twogettwo *cough*) GrptShields. These are must have items, as without them Hahn takes outrageous damage from the monsters in the Bio Plant. Sell his outdated Carbon gear. For Gryz, snag a Broad-Axe. Since all he does is attack, you may as well ensure that he can deal as much damage as possible. Sell his old Titn-Axe. There's no better equipment to buy for either Alys or Chaz in this town. -------------------------------- Return to Birth Valley/Bio Plant -------------------------------- Monsers found in this dungeon: Xanafalgue, Zoran Bult, FlattrPlnt (Birth Valley) Gicefalgue, Ismounos, Guilgenova, Sensor Bit, NeoWhistle, Arm Drone (Bio Plant) Items found in this dungeon: Cure-Paral, Grpt-Crown, Crmc-Sword, Antidote Suggested Level: Gryz 8, Chaz/Alys/Hahn 9 Suggested Level to reach: Gryz 9, Chaz/Alys/Hahn 10 This is potentially quite the tough little dungeon, depending on what monsters the game throws at you. Don't be afraid to use Hinas (or an Escapipe) in order to retreat back to town and use the Inn (and buy the rest of that equipment, perhaps?) if your Party's TP and/or Skills start to run dry. General Combat strategies: You'll encounter quite a few new foes down here, some of them quite nasty: Gicefalgues are an upgraded, palette-swapped version of our old friend the Xanafalgue. They can do some mediocre damage, but they're easy to kill and pose no real threat. Don't waste Crashes or Wats on these guys; regular attacks will suffice. Ismounous are, well, weird fish creatures. They have a lot of HP and hit hard, so break out your "single target" stuff: Crash, Tsu, Wat, Vortex, etc. to kill them before they can put the hurt on your Party. Guilgenova: Iggy's big purple cousin makes his debut! Guil is exactly like Iggy, except that it spits out Gicefalgues instead of Xanas, and it has a few more HP. Like Iggy, if you can continuously kill the Gices, it'll expire without ever getting the chance to attack you. Use your single-killers (see above) to kill it more quickly. Finally, Crash DOES work on Guilgenova (just not every time), so use it! Sensor Bits are the very first Mechanical foe that you have to face. These things are evil, I'll warn you now. They dodge physical attacks quite often, they pack a punch with their guns, and they're fast, too. Alys' Slashers and a Zan from Hahn can wipe them all out at once, so that's not a bad idea. If you're running low on TP with Hahn, have your other Party members hit the Bits with Skills and Techs in order to cut down on missed (i.e. wasted) attacks - while your regular attacks can miss, Techs and Skills never do. NeoWhistles are probably best described as the mechanical equivalent to Ismounos: tough, slow, and hard-hitting. Use the same strategy on these guys as you would the Ismounos, and you'll be alright. Just remember to watch your HP and Res-tore your characters when necessary. Arm Drones are kind of like mechanical Gicefalgues: not too tough to deal with, since they have only mediocre attack power, defense, HP, etc. Regular attacks should be more then enough to finish these off with ease. Your characters should reach these Levels and learn the following ablities: Alys learns the Skill Moonshad(e) at Level 10. This skill will simultaneously Paralyze every foe at once, with a good chance of success. However, Mechanical foes are immune to the effect, so don't try it on groups of Sensor Bits. Save it for large groups of Ismounos instead. Hahn learns the Vol Technique at Level 10. This deceivingly useful Tech will instantly slay any living creature, with a very high rate of success (unlike in MOST RPGs, where Instant Death spells fall into the "why bother" category). This means that you can use Vol to kill irritating foes like Ismounous or Guilgenova without having to deal a bunch of damage to them... not bad. Vol has one major drawback, however: it will not work at all on anything Mechanical. Hahn IS this game's Biologist, remember. Uses 8 TP. At Level 9, Gryz learns nothing. Such a jack-of-all-trades, he is! Walkthrough: ------------ Fist things first, we need to get back to that door that the formerly stoned Professor Holt was blocking when we first came here. To do that, head N to the T, go W then N, take the E passage and follow it to the stairs down. Now on Floor B1F, head N to the T, then go W and N. You'll see the bodies of a couple of poor researchers lying near that mysterious door. Talk to them, and they'll tell you that Professor Holt went deeper inside Birth Valley, but has yet to return. Although it seems unlikely that he's still alive, let's head in there and look anyway... Bio Plant, 1st Floor (No items - a first) As soon as you try to head into the Bio Plant, a red light shines on your Party and freaks Chaz and Hahn out. Alys tells them to chill out, and then it's time to move on. (If you read the screen to the left of the door, you find out that the red light was some sort of "Sterilization Treatment"). Follow the yellow glowing line in the floor, through the doorway to the N. Head N a bit in the next room until you come to an Elevator leading down to the... Bio Plant, B1F (Cure-Paral) Head S from the elevator, and you'll come to a 4-way intersection of sorts. To the W is a little dead end; to the E, you'll find a chest containing a Cure- Paral; to the S, you'll find 2 elevators. The West one (W3 according to the sign) will take you to the West block (optional treasure section), while the East one (E3 says the sign) will take you to the Central Block (where we need to go, eventually). For now, take the W elevator down to... Bio Plant, B2F West (Grpt-Crown) Head S out of the elevator, and follow the path as it curves to the W, and finally to the N. You'll come upon 2 empty chests to your left, but keep going N. You'll eventually find another set of 2 chests, this time with only one already looted. The other chest contains a Grpt-Crwn. Grpt, by the way, apparently stands for "Graphite" and it the next "grade" of armor you'll be encountering. It's better than the Titn-Crown, so equip it on Alys. You can continue a bit further N, but all you'll find is a collapsed tunnel. Guess it's time to take that Eastern elevator... Walk S, then E, and then N back to the elevator. Take it back to... Bio Plant, B1F revisited Just walk E until and take that other elevator down to... Bio Plant, B2F Central (No items) From the elevator, follow the passage E, then N, then back W. You'll come across more of those monster breeding capsules; Chaz and Alys will discuss them if you "search" one. Anyway, head N until you come to an E/W T intersection. The W path is a little dead end, so head E instead. You'll soon find yet another elevator, which will take you down to... Bio Plant, B3F (Crmc-Sword, Antidote) Well, this floor is certainly... different. Head S from the elevator, ignoring the W walkway for now. You'll literally walk into a chest; open it and claim your Crmc-Sword. Ahh, nothing quite like having a new toy for Chaz to play with! Once you've equipped Chaz with his potent new weapon, backtrack and take that W walkway we ignored before. You'll quickly come to a N/S T intersection: the N path quickly dead ends, so head S instead. Follow this curving walkway until you see a side passage heading E; you can see the chest from here, so go ahead and snag the Antidote out of it. Or not. Continue S now, following the path as it curves some more, and you'll go through a doorway, which leads to the next part of this floor. Part 2 of B3F returns us to the traditional "green hallways with gold floor lines" theme. From the doorway, head S some more and you'll see an elevator just to the W. This elevator will take us down to... Bio Plant, B4F (Prof. Holt, Rika, Seed) You'll emerge from the elevator, and immediately see two doorways: one to the NE, and one to the NW. You can take either one, they just lead to opposite sides of the same area. You'll see Professor Holt in this northern room! When you approach him, the game will enter a lengthy and important cutscene: Hahn greets the Professor and expresses his relief at finding the good Prof. unharmed. Alys asks how Holt was able to escape being brutalized by the plethora of monsters that inhabit this place all by himself; he replies that "this person here" (the myserious woman dressed in black, standing behind the Professor) came to his rescue. The woman greets the Party, telling them how glad she is that they are here. She answers the obvious "who are you?" question by introducing herself as Rika. Alys notices Rika's unusual ears, and asks about what exactly Rika is and where they are. Rika tells them that they are in the Bio-plant, a research facility from 1000 years ago. Hahn asks if the plant is still operational; Rika says that it is - and in fact, it is not the only still-functioning system. It is thanks to these systems, which somehow alter the climate and soil of Motavia so that it is not one huge desert (the planet's natural state, as seen in the original Phantasy Star), that the human race survived the 'Great Collapse' at all. At this point, Hahn and Professor Holt ask Rika why the climate of Motavia is reverting, if these systems that protect it are still working. Rika tells them that the systems can barely maintain the minimum conditions required to support human life, and currently some systems are beginning to malfunction. After hearing this, Hahn puts 2 and 2 together and asks if the recent outbreak of Biomonsters is connected somehow to this Bio-plant. Rika confirms that this is so; the Bio-plant is fouling up. She says that, for details, the Party ought to talk to 'Seed'. Rika and the Professor walk N, into the next room, and the Party follows. There, they find a humongous supercomputer the size of a large room. Alys asks where this 'Seed' person is, and Rika tells them that "he" is right in front of them. Seed, the control computer for the Bio-plant, then greets the Party. He tells them that the system is out of his control, and is continuously breeding (and releasing) dangerous biomonsters. Seed goes on to say that if the systems continue to spiral out of control, there will be violent, earth-altering earthquakes to go along with mutant biomonsters and an increasing inhospitable climate; in short, Motavia will be destroyed! Hahn asks what they should do, to which Alys suggests that they shut down the entire system. Hahn points out that shutting things down completely would create its own set of problems (like revertion to a desert climate because there would be no climate controal). Gryz says that it would be better to shut the system down rather than have it ruin everything, and Chaz points out that it will be problematic to shut down all the systems, seeing as how they are spread out over the entire planet. At this point, Rika says that shutting everything down is as simple as deactivating 'Nurvus', which supples power to all the systems. Seed then requests that the Party rescue a 'control android' named Demi. Apparently Demi is the only android with the knowledge (programming?) need to shut Nurvus down. Alys asks Seed what he means by 'rescue', and Seed tells her that she is being held hostage by a man named... you guessed it... Zio. Rika tells them that Demi is currently being held in Zio's Fort. Hahn remembers that Zio's Fort is that huge castle on the other side of the quicksand by Mile. Alys says that it's a bit far to travel, but she's obviously intruiged (and excited) about foiling Zio's plans. Similarly, Gryz is ecstatic that he can do something to piss Zio off, and perhaps even confront him. Seed then requests that you take Rika with you. Alys asks who Rika is, and how she came to be so knowledgable. Seed replies that Rika is his child, of sorts, a product of 1,000 years of improvement on a Prototype from prior to the 'Great Collapse'. Alys agrees to take Rika along, and Rika expresses excitement over being able to see the "outside world". After the party leaves, Seed comments vaguely about having "one way" to stem the outbreak of monsters, now that he has sent Rika out on a mission. We join the Party as they are leaving Birth Valley altogether; Rika is amazed at how vibrant the outside world is. But then, they hear an explosion behind them: Seed has self-destructed, taking himself, the Bio-plant, and all of Birth Vally with him! Well, that certainly is one way to stem the outbreak of Biomonsters... You now have control of the Party, with Rika, standing just outside of Zema. Before we proceed, however, I'd like to fill in some gaps in the backstory, just in case you haven't played Phantasy Star and Phantasy Star II. Phantasy Star takes place 2,000 years before this game does. In Phantasy Star, the people suffer under the wicked rule of the corrupt King of Palma: Lassic. Alis (now a legendary Heroine of yore) sets out on a quest to destroy Lassic after his bodyguards kill her brother Nero for "sniffing around in Lassic's affairs". She gains three companions: Odin, the mighty warrior; a talking cat-like creature (and a friend of Odin's) named Myau; and the powerful Esper, Noah. The 4 travel to Dezolis and Motavia, gathering the potent Laconian armaments, before finally killing Lassic in his own Sky Castle high in the skies above Palma. But, that's not the end of it... Lassic was corrupted by a powerful evil force, Dark Falz, whom Alys and company find cowering in the basement of the Governor of Motavia's mansion. After defeating Dark Falz, peace settles over the Algo Solar System for 1,000 years. Phantasy Star II takes place 1,000 years after Phantasy Star one. High technology reigns. Motavia has been terraformed into a plant almost as lush as Palma, and the AI system dubbed "Mother Brain" takes care of everything, so that the people of Algo live in peace and contentment. The Hero of Phantasy Star II, named Rolf, is directed by the Government of Motavia to investigate a disturbance in the bio-plant. After being joined by several companions, Rolf finds that a rogue Biomonster is trying to sabotage the control systems of Motavia. One of his companions, a half-human named Nei, is the better half of the rogue biomoneter, named NeiFirst. Rolf has no choice but to kill NeiFirst in order to save the planet, but killing NeiFirst means killing Nei as well. Greiving over their fallen comrade and branded outlaws by the government for screwing up the control systems of Motavia, the Heroes escape to Dezolis. However, the unthinkable happens: Mother Brain directs one of the control satellites orbiting Motavia to instead collide with Palma! The impact destroys the entire planet. Having lost both their friend and 1/3 of the solar system to the Mother Brain, the Heroes meet up with Lutz, the distant ancestor of Noah, who teleports them to the Satellite where the Mother Brain is housed. After destroying the malicious AI and it's defense mechanisms, Rolf and the others come face-to-face with none other than Dark Force! 1000 years after its defeat at the hands of Alys, it has come back to destry the entire solar sytem. The Heroes defeat Dark Force, only to learn an even more sinister truth: Dark Force did not create the Mother Brain, it merely corrupted it. No, the Mother Brain was given to the citizens of Algo by a group of Earthlings, who wanted to pacify the people of Algo so that they could take over the Algo solar system. Although vastly outnumbered by hightly advanced Earth soldiers, the Heroes fight for their freedom, and are never heard from again... But that's not even the end of it. A piece of the destroyed planet Palma smashes into Motavia, with an effect similar to the meteor that practically wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth. This impact comes to be known as 'The Great Collapse', as it represents the collapse of the highly technological civilization provided by Mother Brain, not to mention the near extinction of the human race in Algo... In addition, Seed mentions a Prototype from 1000 years ago that Rika is an improvement on; that Prototype would be Nei, the Numan who escaped from the bio-plant where she was created and eventually died saving Motavia from her other half, the malicious NeiFirst. So Rika is Nei with 1,000 years of genetic and technical advancement; it's no wonder she's so powerful. Personally, I really like how they made so many tie-ins to previous games in the series, as it makes this one so much more compelling. And now, back to your regularly scheduled walkthrough. OK, now, before we go running off after Zio and Demi, it's time for a Rika Rundown! Rika, Numan, Level 1 Technique: Res: the basic healing spell. Chaz and Hahn have this already, so you ought to be familiar with it by now. Uses 3 TP. Skill: Illusion: lowers the agility of all foes, seemingly with a 100% success rate (except on Bosses, of course). While it's sort of useful to slow your enemies down, it's much more effecient to just kill them. Don't waste time with this. Rika will level up very quickly, so don't worry too much. Just keep her way in the back, behind Hahn, until she reaches Level 8 or 9, at which point she can fight with Alys over who gets to be in third place behind Gryz and Chaz. Rika may not seem like much at first, but once she starts catching up in levels, you'll find that she fights almost as well as Chaz, plus she has a choice selection of very useful healing and defensive Techniques to call on. Rika is a welcome addition to the Party, to be sure. You can stop back in Zema if you like, but the only pertinent information to be gained is that someone finally fixed that broken bridge to the Northeast. This is good, because it gives us a way to return to Aeido. In addition, Rika's starting armor is just as good as what's for sale in Zema, and she is unable to use any of the weapons sold here, so you don't need buy her anything before heading out. In fact, just forget Zema, and let's just head... ----------------------- To the Village of Nalya ----------------------- Suggested Level: Rika 1, Gryz 9, Chaz/Alys/Hahn 10 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 6, Gryz/Hahn 10, Chaz/Alys 11 Foes you may encounter: MonsterFly, Crawler, Locusta, InfantWorm, Scorpirus All right. From Zema, head W and then turn N, keeping the mountains on your right. You'll soon come across the now-repaired bridge. Go ahead and cross it, then continue heading N until you see a small village. Before we enter, I would advise that you take some time to fight the local monsters. You really want to raise Rika's level to at least 6 before we venture into any dungeons. It's no fun when the monsters keep killing your newest Party member in one or two hits because she's still only level 2 and only has 40 HP and below-average defense... Speaking of Rika, she learns the Skill DblSlash (Double Slash) at Level 4. This is basically indentical to Chaz' CrossCut, in that Rika will deal double her normal damage to whatever foe she elects to use this on. Chaz will learn the Antidote Tech at Level 11, making the Antidote items completely obsolete. If you still have any cluttering up your inventory, just sell them. Uses 2 TP. Oh yes, and Gryz learns nothing at Level 10. Just so you know. You will most likely encounter two new foes whist powering up Rika: The InfantWorm is actually the best monster to fight at this point. They are average in every way - HP, defense, attack power, speed - but are still worth 33 exp each. So, you can kill groups of 2 or 3 with ease and still net yourself a decent chunk of exp. The Scorpirus, on the other hand, is a big pain in the rear. They have about 170 HP, and very high physical defense, and are resistant to Wind Techs (like Zan). In addition, they have a powerful attack that can poison you. Nasty. However, they are weak to Techniques with elements other than Wind, so Tsu and Wat will damage them quite a bit. They are also quite susceptable to Instant Death attacks. Thus, the easiest way to dispose of these things is to simply target them with Vol and Crash, while the other characters attack so as not to waste TP/Skills hurting a monster that will be insta-killed later in the round. At least they're worth 1 1/2 times as much exp as the InfantWorms are. Once Rika reaches Level 6, go ahead and enter... -------------------- THe Village of Nalya -------------------- Inn: 25 Mesata per person (125 Mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 As for the village itself, there really isn't much to do here. A meteorite recently crashed nearby, and the ensuing shockwave destroyed or damaged half the buildings in town, leaving a lot of townfolk living in tents or damaged houses. There is a working Inn, and an Item shop, but no Weapon or Armor shops. The main purpose of this town is to serve as a base of operations should you decide to tackle the optional dungeon nearby. And you really should, as the Experience, Mesata, and items you can gain there make it well worth the time and effort of clearing out this non-storyline-influencing dungeon. You should be able to see a tangled pile of metal a short ways Northwest of Nalya; this is the game's first side-quest, the Wreckage. If you don't want to clean this place out (for whatever reason), and instead want to proceed directly to nearby Aeido, just scroll down until you see the "To the Town of Aeido" section. Otherwise, it's time to raid the... -------- Wreckage -------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Whistle, Warren286, Tracer Items found in this dungeon: CrmcShield, 1500 Mesata, Dimate, Crmc-Knife, Crmc-Mail Suggested Level: Rika 6, Gryz/Hahn 10, Chaz/Alys 11 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 8, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 11 This dungeon has some powerful Mechanical foes, and is a bit complicated (at least compared to other dungeons we've been through) but perserverence will pay off big time in terms of XP and Mesata gained, not to mention a few useful pieces of equipment and items. Don't be afraid to Hinas out in order to go back and heal up at Nalya's Inn; this place WILL drain your TP quickly, as your robot foes deal a good amount of damage, forcing you to cast a LOT of Res spells to keep your Party's HP in a safe range. General combat strategies: First off, let's cover our wonderful new mechanical foes, shall we? The Whistle (another PSII monster) is this dungeon's "average" sentry bot. They can deal a fair amount of damage, and are reasonably quick, but with the addition of Rika you shouldn't have any problems killing them quickly with just regular attacks (and maybe the occasional Wat from Hahn, if you get a group of 3 or 4). The Tracer is a bronze-colored, tougher version of the Whistle. They have more HP and do more damage (like most palette swapped baddies) than their lesser cousins, but still really aren't much of a threat, so try to save your TP and Skills charges for the real threats here, the Warren286s. The Warren286s are humanoid sentry bots, armed with automatic weapons that pack a punch. They can also attack with Flare Shot, which can deal upwards of 40 damage to a single character, so keep your HP up when fighting these guys! Since they have such a potent offense, it's best to whip out some of your good stuff for these guys: Crash, Vortex, Wat, maybe a CrossCut if you're getting badly injured. Use Chaz or Rika to heal with Res or Monomates if someone drops below 45 HP, unless you want that character Flare Shot to death... As for character abilities gained: Hahn will finally learn GiRes at Level 11. Now, Phantasy Star uses prefixes to denote the more powerful version of various Techs: "Gi" is the more potent version of a Tech, while "Na" is its most powerful form. At any rate, GiRes can cure about 100 HP at a pop, and it only gets stronger as Hahn's Mental stat increases. It costs 6 TP, so don't go crazy with it; try to save it for healing emergencies, when a Party member is on the brink of death. Rika will learn the SaNer Technique at Level 8. Alys also has this, and as you may recall, it increases the Agility (Battle Speed) of the entire Party. Useful for Boss battles, but not much else. Uses 6 TP. At Level 11 Gryz will - you guessed it - learn nothing. Incredible! Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (CrmcShield, 1500 Mesata, Dimate) You enter the Wreckage via a large hole torn in a wall. You'll notice that the floor is torn up in several places, creating impassable "pits". At any rate, from where you enter, head W and take the passage that leads N (continuing W just takes you to a dead end). You'll soon find yourself at a 4-way intersection. The N and E passages are both little dead ends, so head W. Follow the passage as it turns to the N, and you'll soon come to an E/W T intersection. In the N wall, you'll see an opening, and there's another opening just like it if you head a bit to the E. Take the E opening: you will enter a small room with 2 chests! The left one has a CrmcShield in it, while the right one contains 1,500 Mesata. Not a bad haul, eh? Hahn can't use the CrmcShield, however, so I normally just sell it. You can slap it on Alys or Rika if you want to severely reduce their combat effectiveness, I guess. Anyway, go back and enter that first opening we encountered (the one on the left, W of where you are now). You'll find yourself in a narrow hallway, which will branch off to the W. Take this side passage, because you'll only hit another dead end if you continue N. Don't be in such a hurry that you miss the chest sitting in a little alcove in the N side of the corridor; it contains the first-ever Dimate! Dimate is, basically, Monomate's big brother. Instead of healing 45 HP, it can restore close to 100 HP. It's GiRes in a can, so save it for an emergency or a Boss Battle (Zio looms in the distance, remember?). Continue W, and when the corridor turns N, follow it. You'll run smack dab into an elevator, which takes us down to... Floor B1F (Crmc-Knife, Crmc-Mail) Ooh, another nifty walkway area! From the elevator, head W and then N. You'll walk into a T instersection, complete with treasure chest. Open the chest for a Crmc-Knife (if you're not doing my "Mage Hahn" thing, give it to him, otherwise just sell it for more Mesata). From here, you can go either W or E. W will lead to the elevator down, so instead head E for now. The walkway leads N, so follow it N all the way to an opening, ignoring the side passage you'll see heading W. The opening enters into a small room with a chest containing a suit of Crmc-Mail. Finally, something worth equipping! You have a choice to make here, as Rika, Alys, Chaz, AND Gryz can all use it, and it ups your defense by 10 over the Titn-Mail. I normally give it to Chaz or Gryz, but the choice is yours. Exit the room, head S, and take the first side passage going W. Follow this skinny walkway W, then N, then W again, and you'll come to the elevator that leads down to... Floor B2F (No items, only plot) Once out of the elevator, follow the green line W and N, through the opening. In this next little area, follow the path N, then W, then N through yet another opening. Keep going N until you come to computer terminal. Now, the game will launch into a mini cutscene wherein Sega tries to pass off the not-Phantasy-Star-at-all PSIII as a legitimate part of the Phantasy Star story (although it's not, AT ALL, but that's another rant for another time). Basically, the ship that the characters of PSIII inhabit is a humongous escape pod that was launched from planet Palma before it was hit and destroyed. Apparently, the inhabitants of Palma were able to lauch some previously readied escape pods that doubled as miniature worlds. Thus, some of the people of Palma where spared. Some of the pods, instead of landing on Motavia or Dezolis, shot off into space (like the ship of PSIII). The ship you're in now suffered damage when a chunk of Palma struck it, and its systems were damaged. Instead of landing on Motavia as is was supposed to, it locked into an orbit around the planet instead. Over the course of 1,000 years, the life support systems gave out and the inhabitants on the ship died. Then, its orbit began to decay when the ship's computers could no longer support it, and it crash landed near Nalya. So, here it is and here you are. Don't you feel enlightened? Well, we're done here, unless you wish to fight some more and level up a bit, but we have a couple of dungeons coming up to do that in, so let's just leave this place, and head... -------------------- To the Town of Aeido -------------------- Suggested Level: Rika 8, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 11 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 8, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 11 Foes you may encounter: MonsterFly, Crawler, Locusta, InfantWorm, Scorpirus Starting from either the Wreckage or Nalya, head a bit South and a lot West, and you'll find Aeido just to the south of mountain range. Aeido is a huge town, so let's get to exploring it! ----------------- The Town of Aeido ----------------- In the Marketplace: Inn: 50 Mesata per person (250 Mesata) Item shop (left): Monomate 20, Dimate 160 Item shop (center): Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Item shop (right): Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120 Armor shop (left): Titn-Helm 570, Titn-Crown 490, Titn-Mail 1120, TitnShield 600 Armor shop (center): Crbn-Helm 200, Crbn-Crown 150, Circlet 100, Crbn-Suit 550, CrbnShield 220 Armor shop (right): Lthr-Helm 80, Lthr-Crown 90, Lthr-Band 70, Lthr-Cloth 160, LthrShield 140 Weapon shop (top): Dagger 40, Stel-Sword 280, Boomerang 80 Weapon shop (middle): Hunt-Knife 120, Slasher 160, Claw 1000 Weapon shop (bottom): TitnDagger 240, Titn-Sword 560, TitnSlashr 360, Titn-Axe 640, Broad-Axe 1000 Near the Hunter's Guild (where they enrich the lives of Hunters): Alys' Home: same as a stay at the Inn, but free! Weapon shop: Crmc-Knife 1600, Crmc-Sword 3600, Saber-Claw 1700, Struggl-Ax 4600 Armor shop: Grpt-Crown 1000, Crmc-Helm 1800, Grpt-Suit 1200, Crmc-Mail 3700, GrptShield 900, CrmcShield 2300 Naura Cake Shop (hidden behind the Hunter's Guild; you must walk around the wall that surrounds the town to get there): Shortcake 280 In the Hunter's Guild: 1000 Mesata and a Trimate in a pair of chests in a "hidden" room (thru the West wall of the room behind the receptionist). Aeido is a MASSIVE town. However, there's really not that much going on here. There's a ton of people to talk to, but very few have important information. A couple of people mention an army coming to and from the cave just north of Aeido, and a couple of Hunters in the Guild mention that they might be part of Zio's army. A lot of folks talk to/about Alys, seeing as how she's quite well known here, being a succesful, famous hunter and all. The basic gist you should be getting here is that the cave north of town will eventually lead you to Zio's Fort. As for shopping, avoid the "Marketplace" like the plague. There is nothing there that you don't already own, and its Inn is horribly expensive, especially since you can sleep at Alys' house for free. Instead, hit the Weapon/Armor shop in the Northwest corner of town, just South of the Hunter's Guild. For this little excursion, you're going to need a grand total of 22,700 Mesata. However, unlike previous shopping trips, you don't need ALL that money right this minute, although you should have most of it if you went through the Wreckage. Now that you have the Ryuka Tech, you can warp back here whenever you wish; thus, keep the following shopping list handy, and be sure to come back here whenever you garner enough Mesata to buy a couple more things. In order to have everyone fully equipped, you'll need to buy the following: For Chaz, a Crmc-Helm and Crmc-Mail if you didn't give him the one you found in the Wreckage. Unless you missed the Grpt-Crown from the Bio Plant, the only thing Alys will need a suit of Crmc-Mail - unless you gave her the one you found in the Wreckage, of course. Getting Rika fully equipped is going to cost you, unfortunately. She needs two Saber Claws in addition to a suit of Crmc-Mail - unless you gave her the one you found in the Wreckage. Gryz needs a Struggl-Ax, and it costs an arm and a leg, but you really do need in order to keep Gryz from being a complete liablity. He will also need a Crmc-Helm, and some Crmc-Mail - unless you gave him the one you found in the Wreckage. If you're doing my Mage Hahn thing, you won't need anything for Hahn; however, if you're NOT, you can buy him a Crmc-Knife or two. If you went in and got all the stuff out of the Wreckage, don't forget to sell the CrmcShield and Crmc-Knife (unless you're giving Hahn knives) for some extra Mesata. Also, sell all your old gear as soon as you can, as the Mesata your obsolete gear brings in might well be enough to allow you to buy everything you need, even if you started with less than 23,000 Mesata! As a side note, if you for some reason did not do the Wreckage, you're going to find yourself rougly 7000-10000 Mesata short. Guess how much Mesata a trip through the Wreckage will get you? That's right. 7000-10000 Mesata, after you sell some of the stuff you find there (wink wink nudge nudge). You're also going to want to visit the Hunter's Guild. It's the humongous building Northwest of the Marketplace. Talk to the hunters here, working your way East until you come to a bar. Go into the opening in the North wall at the far Eastern end of the building. You'll find yourself in a room with a stage. You can watch the totally uncalled for dancers do their thing, but you're here for some semi-hidden goodies, so walk West past the stage, and go that little section of wall that doesn't have the vertical "border" in front of it (it's the Northmost part of the West wall; just walk through it). You'll now be in the dancer's dressing room; again, head West through the gap in the wall. Keep walking West, through the receptionists room, through the wall, and into the "hidden" chamber. Here, you'll find two chests, one with a Trimate (restores one ally to full HP) and the other with 1500 Mesata. Not a bad haul for doing a little walking, eh? Now, return to the front of the receptionist's desk, and talk to her. Welcome to Side Quest Land, otherwise known as The Hunter's Guild (where they enrich the lives of hunters). Currently, there is only one new Job available: The Ranch owner. You can do this quest whenever you want, but since we're currently trying to amass Mesata for equipment, this is as good a time as any. If you don't want to do this side quest (you should. You can get everyone to go up two levels by fighting a single battle), just skip ahead to the section titled "The Cave North of Aiedo/PassageWay". Your loss, if you do. -------------------------------------- Hunter's Guild Job #1: The Ranch owner -------------------------------------- First available: upon first visiting Aeido's Hunter's Guild. Reward: For the Worm, 5000 exp and 1000 Mesata. For completing the Job, 5000 Mesata from the Hunter's Guild. Associated Costs: None, unless you consider fighting monsters costly. Difficulty: High. Location: Village of Mile. Suggested Party Level: 11+ The request for help comes from the sandworm ranch owner from the village of Mile (remeber him?). The sand worms in his ranch have grown so large that he can't control them any longer... He offers a reward of 5000 Mesata if you can help him. Chances are, that 5000 is exactly what you need to buy the last of the equipment that your characters need from the various shops in Aeido. Be sure to rest at Alys' Home before using Ryuka or a Telepipe to warp to Mile. The Ranch owner is the guy standing directly in front of you when you first enter Mile. Talk to him, and he tells you that the worms are out of his control, and asks you to do whatever you need to do. He then moves aside, allowing you to walk through the gap in the fence and into the "ranch". You will immediatly encounter a fully grown Sand Worm, and let me tell you, this thing is DANGEROUS. It has 1400 (!) HP and deals 40-50 damage with its attacks. For this fight, do the following: Round 1: Chaz attacks. Gryz Attacks. Alys casts Shift on Chaz. Hahn uses Vision. Rika casts SaNer. Round 2: Chaz uses CrossCut. Gryz attacks. Alys casts Shift on Gryz. Hahn casts Wat. Rika heals whoever got hit by the Sand Worm last round. Round 3: Chaz uses CrossCut. Gryz attacks. Alys casts Shift on Rika. Hahn heals whoever got hit by the Sand Worm last round. Rika uses DblSlash. Round 4: Chaz and Gryz attack. Alys casts Shift on herself. Hahn heals whoever got hit by the Sand Worm last round. Rika uses DblSlash. Round 5+: Chaz, Gryz, and Rika attack. Alys uses Vortex. Hahn either heals whoever got hit by the Sand Worm last round, or casts Wat if the Worm missed. As long as you buff yourself in the first few rounds with Shift, Vision, and SaNer, and make sure you cast Res on whomever the Worm attacks, you should be able to walk away from this fight without anyone dying. Now, with 5000 exp per person gained, each Party member will gain at least two Levels. If you've been following this FAQ to the letter, your Party will be at the following levels after beating the Sand Worm, and they will learn these abilities: Chaz will learn the Zan Tech at Level 12. Alys and Hahn know this already, so I'm not going to describe it here again. Uses 8 TP. Chaz will also learn the Skill Airslash at Level 13. This incredible skill allows Chaz to attack every foe onscreen at once, dealing insane amounts of damage in the process. Not too useful against bosses, but it's great when you're trying to end battles quickly (dangerous foes, leveling up, etc.). Just keep in mind that Chaz will never really have a LOT of "charges" for this, so try to save it for battles that yeild great rewards (or danger). Alys will learn the Skill Death at Level 13. Death is Alys' version of Crash, but it only affects Biomonsters. Not too useful, but I guess it's nice to have in a pinch. Hahn will learn the Rimpa Tech at Level 12. Rimpa is the Tech version of a Cure-Paral, and as such will cure paralysis. Whee! At least it saves you from wasting 120 freakin' Mesata whenever someone is paralyzed. Uses 5 TP. Hahn will also learn the Rimit Tech at Level 13. Rimit is one of those Techs that could be great, if it wasn't for a prohibitive TP cost. Rimit can paralyze every non-mechanical foe at once, leaving them at your mercy. It has a good rate of success against most monsters, but the 10 TP cost means that you won't be able to just whip it out whenever you feel like it. Like Zan, you should save this one for groups of tough monsters. Uses 10 TP. Rika, unfortunatly, "pulls a Gryz" and learns nothing at Level 9, 10, or 11. Bad Rika! No biscuit! I know this is going to be hard to believe, but Gryz learns nothing at Level 12. In addition, he learns nothing at Level 13. Go Gryz! Right. In order to recieve your 5000 Mesata reward, return to the Hunter's Guild in Aeido (where they enrich the lives of Hunters) and speak to the receptionist. She will fork over your hard-earned reward money. It is now time to move on. Be sure that you bought everything on the above shopping list (and equipped it, and sold your old stuff), rest up for free at Alys' Home, and exit the town of Aeido. Head due North and you'll see a cave in the mountains, behind some trees. This is your next destination, the... -------------------------------- Cave North of Aeido (PassageWay) -------------------------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Zol Slug (Meta Slug), Speard Items found in this dungeon: Dimate, Cure-Paral Suggested Level: Rika 11, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 13 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Much like ValleyMaze, this area exists to take you from one part of a mountain range to another. It's fairly straightforward, but the monsters you find here can hit pretty hard, so be cautious and heal frequently. General Combat strategies: First, let's meet our new playmates: Zol Slug/Meta Slug: Zol Slugs are weak, pathetic little critters - with a nasty secret. They won't do much - they have low HP, low attack power, and low defense - until you reduce their numbers to exactly two (they usually appear in groups of 3 or 4). If two slugs are left alive long enough, they'll merge together into a Meta Slug instead of attacking! Unlike Zol Slugs, Meta Slugs are something to worry about: they have a lot of HP, strong defenses, and to top it all off, they pack a punch. They do have one glaring weakness: you can snuff them Instant Death attacks, so when a Meta Slug forms, break out Vol, Death, Eliminat(e) and Crash. One of those WILL work, and you'll end up with a whopping 400 (!!) XP for your troubles, plus 42 XP for each Zol Slug you killed before they merged. Obviously, letting Meta Slugs form on purpose and then killing them with Instant Death attacks is an easy, easy way to Level your characters up at this point. Hint hint. Speards are a bit on the slow side, and have only average HP, but they make up for it by hitting hard and having solid defenses. Still, you shouldn't need to use anything special on these guys. Your characters should reach these levels and gain these abilities: Chaz will learn the Rimpa Tech at Level 14. This is exactly the same as Hahn's Rimpa Technique; it will remove paralysis. Uses 5 TP. Alys will leann the GiFoi Tech at Level 14. This upgraded version of Foi can deal even more damage than Vortex, and Alys has plenty of TP by now, so don't be afraid to use it! Uses 6 TP. Rika will learn the Skill Eliminat(e) at Level 12. Like Crash, Vol, and Death before it, Eliminat(e) will instantly slay one foe. However, it is most like Vol in that it only works on non-mechanical foes. Rika will also learn the GiRes Tech at Level 13. You're going to need the extra healing that GiRes provides very soon, so don't forget that Rika has it in her repertoire! Uses 6 TP. Gryz will ACTUALLY LEARN A SKILL AT LEVEL 14!!! WarCry will increase Gryz' attack power for the duration of the battle. Wow, we had to wait 8 Levels, and all we get is Gryz' self-only version of the Shift Tech? Whatever. By now, Rika can move to the 3rd Position, behind Gryz and Chaz. Alys' defense (and HP) are starting to lag behind, so moving her further back is a good idea. Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (Dimate, Cure-Paral) From the entrance, head N and follow the passage as it curves W. Eventually, you'll see a side passage leading S. Take it, for it leads to a chest containing Dimate. Return from whence you came and continue heading W. After a while, the passage will turn S. Soon after you begin going S, you'll see a side passage heading E, but ignore it; it's just a little dead end. Continue S while hugging the E wall. At the end of this little area is another chest: snag the Cure-Paral out of it and head back to the intersection you just came from, and head W. The passage will turn S and split into two paths: one leading SW, and one SE. The SE passage is another dead end, so head SW. Head S until you see a narrow beam of light in what would otherwise be a dead end: that's the exit. --------------------- To the Town of Kadary --------------------- Suggested Level: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Foes you may face: Scorpius, Speard, Tech User If you get into a battle with a Tech User, try to kill it as soon as possible. They can use Res to heal themselves (or others) and they can use a Hahn- strength Wat on you. Occasionally, they'll cast Foi instead, and this is a good thing, because Foi does a fraction of the damage Wat does. Also, these things are hightly resistant to magic, so don't waste a GiFoi or a Zan on them or anything; use physical Skills like CrossCut or Crash instead. At any rate, all you need to do here is head due Southeast, and in no time you'll see your next destination... ------------------ The Town of Kadary ------------------ Inn: 40 Mesata per person (200 Mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20, Dimate 160, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 In the rundown hut in the NE corner of town: A chest containing a LasrSlashr for Alys. Kadary is an... interesting town. Being the closest town to Zio's Fort, Zio decided to found a church here. Now, this church's dogma states that Zio will cleanse the impure peoples of the world in the fires of destruction, and lead his followers to a utopian existance, built on society's ashes. How lovely. The town is split into two camps: the sane folk, and Zio's followers. The sane people of the town are generally disquieted by, disturbed by, and otherwise uncomfortable with Zio and his fanatical worshippers. Zio's followers all come off as insane, for the most part, doing nothing but ranting and raving about Zio's greatness. In Zio's Cathedral, you'll find a girl, one of Zio's followers, who says that she ran away to join Zio's church. Remember her, as you'll have to come back to see her later. At some point, be sure to walk around the town's East wall and go into the smaller of the two buildings you find there; there's a Laser Slasher for Alys in a chest. The other building here is an Inn that has been taken over by Zio's mercenaries. When you're done chatting it up with the townsfolk, I would recommend warping back to Aeido to heal up at Alys' Home, then warping back to Kadary. You could stay at the Inn here, I guess, but why waste money? Once you're healed up, it's time to depart. We will be heading... ------------- To Zio's Fort ------------- Suggested Level: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Suggested Level to reach: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Foes you may face: Scorpius, Speard, Tech User Yet another grueling journey. Head a whole screen to the Southeast, then look for the big, pointy castle. You literally can't miss it. Well, this is it. It's time to tackle... ---------- Zio's Fort ---------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Speard, Tech User, ShadowSabr, Ripper Items found in this dungeon: 2000 Mesata, Moon-Dew, Lasr-Sword, Dimate, LasrBarrir, Lasr-Claw The Bosses of this dungeon are: Juza, Dark Priest of Zio Zio, servant of Dark Force Suggested Level: Rika 13, Chaz/Alys/Gryz/Hahn 14 Suggested Level to reach: Alys 15, Chaz/Rika/Gryz/Hahn 16 Let me be blunt here: playtime's over. This dungeon is complex, long, and filled with a variety of baddies that can put the hurt on you. To top it all off, there's not one, but two powerful Bosses waiting at the end of it all. So, be prepared. Buy some Dimates. Make sure you have at least one Escapipe. Buy all the equipment you need from Aeido if you haven't done so yet. Rest at Alys' Home before even thinking about entering. Once all that's done, you're ready to rumble. So let's get on with it, shall we? General Combat strategies: I've already covered Speards (PassageWay) and Tech Users (To Kadary), so let's begin with the new foes you'll find here and not outside: ShadowSabr(e)s aren't too dangerous by themselves, but their ability to cast Deban makes them a good choice to eliminate first. They also pull off a LOT of critical hits when attacking physically, which is something to watch out for. If they haven't used Deban yet, you can take them down with 2 powerful melee attacks (a combination of Chaz/Vortex/Gryz/Rika), but if they're protected by Deban, don't hesitate to use Instant Death attacks or GiFoi. Rippers are dangerous primarily because of their Firebreath ability, which will do a lot of damage to characters with poor defense (like Hahn). They also have a fair amount of HP and aren't impressed much by Foi or GiFoi. Like the ShodowSabres, they're not too tough alone, but you may want to try to finish them quickly when you encounter them in a group, using Zan and Alys' Slashers to kill all of them at once. Your characters should reach these levels and gain these abilities: Chaz will learn the GiRes Tech at Level 16. It never hurts to have more characters with better healing Techs, right? Uses 6 TP. Rika will learn the Deban Tech at Level 14. This supremely useful Tech will boost the pysical defense of the ENTIRE Party for a mere 5 TP. This thing is great for Boss Battles, but it's worth whipping out if you're fighting multiple foes (especially mechanical ones) to reduce the damage they can inflict before you kill them. Hahn will learn the GiWat Tech at Level 16. You thought Hahn could deal good damge with Wat? Check THIS bad boy out. This stronger version of Wat can deal in excess of 100 damage to a single foe. The best part is, Hahn has so many TP that you can make this his new primary attack. Uses 7 TP. Gryz reverts to his old self, gaining nothing at all at Level 15. Oh! oh! and nothing at Level 16, either. Walkthrough: ------------ First Floor (No items) From the entrance, head straight N. You'll see a staircase leading down, but if you approach it, you will (literally) walk into an "invisible" barrier. You can't circumvent or disable this barrier... yet. So, ignore it for now and head N around the circular room that the staircase is in. Go up the steps and through the doorway in the N wall. You'll see two staircases leading up, one on the W side of the room, and one on the E side. The E stairs lead to a long dead end, so don't bother unless you're taking the scenic route through this place. Instead, head on up the E stairs, to the... 2nd Floor (No items) Go SSW from the stairs, until you come to a fork in the path. Ignore the straight Southern hallway for now and instead go N. You'll see a set of stairs, so take them down to the... 1st Floor, Northwest Tower (2000 Mesata) You'll find yourself on the 1st Floor, in the Fort's Northwest Tower. There's a chest here, so snag the 2000 Mesata out of it and head on back upstairs. 2nd Floor, revisited Return now to that straight hallway I just mentioned, and head S. The hallway will jog to the W after a bit, and you'll see a set of stairs leading up, but beware! That oval-shaped black thing to the right of the stairs is a pit, and yes, you CAN fall down into it. For now, do just that: walk into the pit. 1st Floor, West Tower (Moon-Dew) You'll find yourself in the Fort's West Tower. You'll also find a chest. Open it to claim your Moon-Dew. Moon-Dew acts like the Rever Tech (which you won't be learning for a while) in that it will revive a character who has been reduced to 0 HP. This will be your ONLY portable method of reviving a dying Party member for a long time, so don't waste it! Now, when you try to leave the tower, you'll leave the Fort entirely, so you'll have to start over from the beginning and work your way back to the pit/stair area, but the Moon-Dew makes the backtracking worthwhile. When you get back to the stairs, ascend them. We'll save that narrow passage beyond the stairs for later. 3rd Floor, West Spire (Lasr-Sword) You'll emerge on this floor into what appears to be an empty room, but in this case, looks can be deceiving. That funky looking extension of the E wall is actually a tube-like walkway that leads to the Center Spire of the Fort. Walk through the E wall to enter this tube. Once you exit on the East side, head North to a chest containing the Lasr-Sword. Oh yeah. Give that to Chaz immediately (if not sooner), and then retrace your steps back to the pit/stair area. 2nd Floor, Western pit stairs Head S of the stairs, and then go E, hugging the N wall (after you pass the pit, though). You'll come across another pit/stair combination. This time, skip the pit, and go around the stairs and head S. You'll find a staircase leading down at the end of the hallway. 1st Floor, Southeast Tower (Dimate) Another Tower, another chest. This one conains Dimate. Snag it and head on back to the Eastern pit/stairs. Don't take the stairs just yet; we have another pit to fall into! 1st Floor, Eastern Tower (LasrBarrir) Noticing a pattern yet? The chest in this tower contains a LasrBarrir, which I can only assume is supposed to be "Laser Barrier", as it's a type of Shield. Slap it on Hahn, as it's better than a GrptShield. Now, as with the Western Tower, when you leave here, you leave the Fort entirely and have to start again from the entrance. If you're running low on TP/Skills, now would be a good time to warp back to Aiedo for some free healing. At any rate, once you're ready, head on back to the eastern pit/stairs, and ascend them. 3rd Floor, East Spire (No items) Well, here we are, the Eastern Spire. Walk into the tube/catwalk that's projecting out of the West wall, and head on through it until you emerge into the Eastern half of the Fort's Center Spire. 3rd Floor, Center Spire (Lasr-Claw, Juza) Grab the Lasr-Claw from the chest just to the N (and equip it!), then turn around and head S, head W a few steps, then go N again. You'll see a black robed man standing there; this is the Boss of Zio's Fort, a Dark Priest named Juza, so don't talk to him unless you're ready: First, heal everyone to full HP with monomates and Res. Second, everyone except Alys should be Level 16 (but Level 15 for everyone is acceptable, if you don't want to Level up). Third, make sure Hahn and Rika have at least 40 TP remaining; you're most likely going to need that much TP for buffing up the Party and casting healing Techs. Once you're fully prepared, speak to Juza. He tells you that you're going to have to get past him if you wish to bother the great and powerful Zio... Juza, Dark Priest of Zio (1500 HP) This guy can really put the hurt on your Party, so the best thing to do is take him down as quickly as possible. He can use Zan or ForceFlash - attacks that damage the entire Party - on you in any given round. Not good. Even better, Zan and ForceFlash aren't the only tricks up Juza's long, black sleeves; he uses all of the following attacks: Zan will deal 1 damage to Alys and Hahn, and 20-25 to everyone else. Big deal. Be thankful that he used Zan and not... ForceFlash. This is why Juza is nasty. It deals 40-55 damage to everyone except Hahn, who "only" takes 20-30 damage. This is why it's good to have 3 characters that can cast GiRes! Foi and Wat: Once in a while, Juza will cast Foi or Wat on someone. Use this "free round" to hit him with everything you've got, before he goes back to pounding you with ForceFlash. Now that you know that Juza will almost always hit your entire Party every round, you need a strategy that will minimize buffing and maximize damage output and healing. Such a strategy might look like this, but there are other variations if you wish to expiriment: 1st Round - Gryz: WarCry. Chaz: CrossCut. Rika: SaNer. Alys: Shift on Chaz. Hahn: Vision or GiWat. 2nd Round - Gryz: Attack. Chaz: CrossCut. Rika and Hahn: use Res or GiRes on the 2 Party members that took the MOST damage from Juza's attack last round. Alys: Cast Shift on Rika. Following Rounds - Chaz: Alternate between CrossCut and GiRes, depending on how many Party members are below 60 HP (ForceFlash killable, in other words). Gryz: just keep attacking, unless you REALLY need him to use a Dimate on someone. Rika: Use GiRes on the most wounded Party member. If you get lucky and Juza uses Zan more often than ForceFlash, have her sneak in the occasional DblSlash. Hahn: As with Rika, but substitute "GiWat" for "DblSlash". Alys: Have her cast GiFoi repeatedly, unless you REALLY need her to use a Dimate on someone. As long as you don't skimp on the GiRes Tech and keep everyone's HP above 60 at all times, you should be able to defeat Juza without suffering any casualties. Your characters can deal up to 650 damage to Juza in a single round: Chaz' Shift-enhanced CrossCut deals about 180 damage, Gryz' WarCry-enhanced attack dishes out rougly 90 damage, Rika's Shift-enhanced DblSlash can do 170 damage, and Hahn's GiWat and Alys' GiFoi should both be dealing approximately 100 damage. Thus, it's important to keep track of how much damage you've dealt to Juza at all times; once you have over 1000 damage pumped into his skinny, black-robed hide, you can forego any healing in the last round and just hit him with everything you've got, killing him before he can ForceFlash you into oblivion. Or, you can play it safe, and whittle him down slowly while GiRes-ing your little head off. Once Juza is dead, his illusion spell (which was hiding the staircase that leads to the upper floor of the Spire) dissipates. With the previously hidden staircase now visible, head W and ascend it to the... 4th Floor, Center Spire (No itmems) Nothing to see here. Just go S, then E, and hit the stairs directly N. They will take you to the... 5th Floor, Center Spire (Demi, Zio) Head N from the stairs, and you'll see Demi "chained" to the North wall. As you approach her, the game will enter a cut scene... The Party quickly confirms the prisoner as Demi, the android that can help us to stop the flow of power to the various out-of-control systems. Wasting no time, Chaz uses his sword to cut away the vine-mucus-chain things that are holding Demi to the wall. Demi seems a bit groggy from her improsonment, and wonders idly who you are. Alys introduces the Party, and Demi thanks them by using her Medical Power to restore everyone's HP/TP. Chaz, as usual, freaks out. Demi then formally introduces herself, confirming that she is the android in charge of controlling Nurvus. At this point, everyone comments on how human-like Demi is. Ever practical Alys dispenses with chit-chat and asks Demi if she knows how to stop the flow of power to the malfunctioning systems. Demi replies that she has already tried to freeze the entire system... when a mysterious voice speaks. It's Zio! Rika is repelled by his Aura of evil, while Gryz is enraged. Zio, mighty Zio, insults the Party repeatedly. Chaz responds by trying to use logic to put Zio in his place. Logic has no effect on an insane mind, however, and Zio continues to taunt the Party. Gryz becomes more and more angry, to the point that he begins to give into his hatred... which excites (!) Zio. Zio rambles on about suffering and offerings to his great god. Alys tries to coerce some more info out of Zio, telling him that keeping Demi from stopping the malfunctioning systems will eventually result in the death of all living things on Motavia. But Zio, being the corrupted evil wizard-type that he is, says that the eradication of life on Motavia is exactly what he wants. In fact, his dark god wishes to exterminate all life in the entire Algo solar system, a feat that Zio intends to do all by hisself if he has to. Chaz and Hahn point out that killing all life on Algo would mean killing himself, eventually, but Zio is apparently okay with that. They proceed to tell Zio that he's obviously out of his mind, and he responds by offering up a prayer to his dark god, Dark Force, and attacking the Party. Zio, servant of Dark Force (???? HP) Well, here it is. You know that EVERY RPG must, at some point, have a battle that you are forced to lose, and yet does not end the game, but instead advances the storyline. Well, this is it. Zio puts up a Magic Barrier in the first round. This Magic Barrier reduces the damage from EVERY attack you hit Zio with to 0. NOTHING you do will hurt him at all. Zio casually summons a Nightmare (if you've played the original Phantasy Star, you may recognize it) in the 3rd round. As soon as round 4 starts, the Nightmare emits a Black Wave at Chaz, and the battle abruptly ends. The game immediately begins another cut-scene: Alys selflessly dives in front of Chaz, and the Black Wave strikes her instead, rendering her unconscious. The Party uses Hinas to escape from Zio's Fort before the Nightmare can toast anyone else. Rika informs them that not even GiRes can heal Alys' wounds! Well, that's a first... but it's certainly NOT a good sign. Hahn suggests that they take Alys back to Krup, and the scene fades out. We rejoin the Party as they stand around helplessly, staring at Alys, who is bedridden. No one can figure out why Alys resists being healed, and Rika theorizes that evil power may be at work here. Hahn wonders if shutting down Zurvus might help Alys, but Demi tells them that Nurvus is, in fact, directly under Zio's Fort (remember the stairs behind the invisible barrier? Yep.). Zio actually built his castle on top of the entrance to Nurvus, and sealed it off! Alys comes to long enough to mumble something about Rune, and how he should be able to do something. She also cautions them that, as it stands, there's no way the Party can beat Zio. They need to find a way to nullify his Magic Barrier! Rika points out that Magic hasn't been seen since the time of the Great Collapse, 1000 years ago. Hahn remembers that Rune was indeed using magic - the spell Flaeli. Alys again tells you to seek out Rune before relapsing into silence. Rika wants to know who Rune is, and Chaz tells her all about Rune's sparkling personality before grudginglyh admitting that they do need his help. Ever helpful Hahn also recalls that Rune ran off with Grandfather Dorin. Gryz says that they probably went to the Ladea Tower, as Dorin had mentioned it earlier. It's located beyond the quicksand to the East. Chaz and Gryz ponder how Rune and Dorin crossed the quicksand. Demi pipes up and mentions the Land Rover (another thing that Phantasy Star veterans ought to be familiar with). Demi says that there should be one in the Machine Center just South of Krup; with a Land Rover, quicksand is a mere annoyance. Because we need to have 2 spaces in the Party line-up open (1 for Rune, 1 for Demi), Chaz asks Hahn to stay behind and look after Alys. Now, the game finally relinquishes control to you. Before you head out though, we need to do a Demi Rundown: Demi, Android, Level 12 Techniques: None. Demi has no Mental score and no TP, and thus cannot use Techniques. Skills Recover: Heals Demi (and only Demi) for roughly 300 HP. This Skill is vital because androids are not affected by normal Healing Techs or items! Thus, the only way to heal Demi (at least for now) is to have her use Recover. Fortunately, this can be used outside of battle as well as in battle, and Demi has many "charges" of it. StatisB(ea)m: Puts an enemy mechanical unit into statis (i.e. paralyzes it) for 1-3 rounds on average. Not that useful, unless you're facing a lone Mechanical foe. Spark: Demi's instant death Skill. Will destroy a mechanical creature outright. Doesn't affect living creatures at all. Not as good as other instant death spells due to it not affecting Biomonsters, but it will still come in handy when you're exploring places like Nurvus. Barrier: Here we go. Barrier increases the entire Party's Magic Defense! This Skill is particularly handy against bosses (since most of them have at least one nasty magical attack of some sort), although it's not a bad idea to whip it out against monsters like Tech Users, who rely on magic to damage you. Medic P(o)w(er): This unimpressive Skill restores a whopping 30 HP to every humanoid Party member at once. It's sort of nice if you get hit by something that damages the whole Party, but... with only 30 HP healed, it just doesn't keep up with the damage output of some of the monsters you're going to have to face soon... Demi is a bit different than your other characters, mainly due to the fact that she is a machine, and not a living person. This means several things in game terms: 1) She uses her own set of equipment. You must find better weapons and armor for Demi, as you can't buy her anything. 2) She heals 1 HP for every step you take out of battle. This is partly done to balance out the fact that... 3) She cannot be healed by ANY Healing Technique or ANY Healing item. The ONLY two ways to heal Demi are to either use her Recover Skill, or to walk around in an area without battles and let her self-regeneration do the job (see #1). 4) She uses a new weapon class: Guns. These are similar to swords and axes in that they require 2 hands (thus exluding shield use) and deal good amount of damage (most Guns seem to bypass physical defense somewhat), but this is balanced by the fact that Guns do not increase Demi's Defense Power the way Chaz' Swords and Gryz' Axes do. For now, stick Demi in the back of the line up, since she starts out 4 or 5 levels lower than everyone else. She also has a rather low HP total. Demi's role in combat will be to destroy Mechanical enemies - when facing biomonsters, Demi is next to useless. So here we are in Krup with a new Party line up: Chaz, Gryz, Rika, and Demi. You might want to fiddle with your Macro A so that the proper people are attacking first (I recommend Rika, Chaz, Demi, Gryz), and don't forget to alter your line-up so that Demi is in the fourth spot. You may want to heal at the Inn in Krup (or warp on over to Alys' Home if you're feeling frugal) before heading... --------------------- To the Machine Center --------------------- Suggested Level: Gryz 17, Chaz & Rika 16, Demi 12 Suggested Level to reach: Gryz 17, Chaz & Rika 16, Demi 12 Monsters you might face: Crawler, Sand Newt, Locusta From Krup, head due South until you see the shoreline. Go a few steps East, and then head back South. After a few more steps, the ground will rumble, and the entrance to the Machine Center will reveal itself. Go ahead and enter it. ------------------ The Machine Center ------------------ Items found in this area: ControlKey Monsters found in this area: none! This is a very brief area. Head N and take the elevator down. When you emerge from the elevator, you'll see a chest on your left. Open it and claim the ControlKey, and then touch the weird symbol on the right side of the room. These symbols - you'll find them in various buildings like this one - will completely restore the Party's HP and TP (and Skill uses). A free stay at an Inn, or its equivalent, in other words. Not too shabby. Once you're all healed up, head South and exit this room. Once you enter the next room and take a single step south, you'll enter a new cutscene. Rika will proclaim that this place has (somehow) become independant of Nurvus. Demi will whine about how the machines housed here are going to need repairs. Chaz asks Demi if she was caught by Zio while trying to stop the malfunctioning systems. Demi answers that yes, she was. This is when Demi reveals a twist: defeating Zio will not stop the systems from spiraling out of control! In fact, Nurvus isn't really the problem at all, and in fact, it's the Control Satellite Zelan that has been issuing "abnormal commands" which are contributing to the destruction of Motavia's ecosystem. Chaz wonders how you're supposed to get to a satellite orbitting far side of Motavia, and Gryz tells him not to worry about that and just focus on defeating Zio and halting Nurvus, for now. Chaz says he's worried about this Dark Force that Zio keeps going on and on about... Demi has an andoid orgasm over the awesomeness of the Land Rover once she gets it out of the Machine Center. You'll find yourself back outside the Machine Center, but in the Land Rover this time! About the Land Rover: Vehicles (such as the Land Rover; there are others that you will aquire later on) are a great way to travel. They move much faster than your normal walking speed, and you can use them to bypass barriers or obstacles that impede foot traffic (such as Quicksand). In order to begin using a vehicle, you must select it from your Item list and "Use" it. To disembark, simply press the A, B, or C button. The Start button does nothing whilst you are driving a vehicle. However, you'll encounter big, nasty monsters that you would never encouter on foot (apparently, the vibrations from a vehicle's engines catches the attention of some of Motavia's larger predators - at least, that's how the instruction book describes it). As such, you will still get random battles in vehicles, but the battles will be a bit different. Let me explain: A battle screen will appear as normal, but you'll see the cockpit of the vehicle instead of your Party members. Instead of HP, the vehicle has "SP" instead (what, Special Points? What was wrong with using HP as "Hull Points"? I really don't understand game transrators at ALL!). SP works just like HP: run out, and it's game over, man, it's game over!! Actually, there is ONE major difference: this is NO way to restore SP in battle, but you always start with Max SP whenever a new battle starts (i.e. all damage taken during a battle is erased once said battle ends). Not that it matters much, but the Land Rover will start every battle with 740 SP. In addition, each vehicle has a regular attack, and a couple of "Optin" (here we go again. "Optin". What, "Option"? Why are alternate attack modes called "Options"? Urrggghh!) Special Attacks. The Land Rover has a cannon of some sort that blasts a single foe when you use the Attack command. Its two "Optin"s are: Cluster: Fires a cluster bomb that deals about 175 damage to all your foes at once. Has 8 uses before you have to "recharge" them by staying at an Inn. Gravit(o)n: The Land Rover version of Gra. Deals about 300 damage to all your foes at once. Has 8 uses before you have to "recharge" them by staying at an Inn. You'll notice that Land Rover battles are worth very poor experience and almost no Mesata at all, so you may want to just Run to save time. I won't tell if you won't. You will (for now) only encounter two types of Biomonsters in the Land Rover. They are: GrassHound: A variation of our good buddy, the Locusta. Has a lot of HP and does a lot of damage to the Rover, too. If you fight a GrassHound and one or more Forced Flies (see below), use Graviton to clear out the Flies and blast the GrassHound with your cannon. If you encounter them alone, just trade blows with the Hound until it goes down. Forced Fly: Forced Fly? What? At any rate, the only thing we're going to force it to do is die (yuk yuk yuk). Right, anyway, just nail these annoying pests with Graviton to wipe them out quickly. If you encounter only one, just shoot it until it dies. One last thing about the Land Rover: possession of it opens up the next Job at the Hunter's Guild in Aeido. This one really is optional; you don't get a massive reward like the Sandworm Ranch Job, but if you're like me, you do all the Jobs just to be thorough. I'll detail this little side-quest quick, but if you just want to get on with the REAL quest, scroll on down to the section titled "To the Village of Monsen". --------------------------------------- Hunter's Guild Job #2: Tinkerbell's Dog --------------------------------------- First available: once you obtain the Land Rover from the Machine Center. Reward: 2,000 Mesata for returning Rocky the dog safely back home. Associated Costs: 280 Mesata for a ShortCake from the Nuala bakery, located on the outskirts of Aiedo. Difficulty: Annoying. Location: Aeido, then Krup, then Monsen. Suggested Party Level: Whatever Level you're at now will suffice. This Job request comes from the home of Tinkerbell, the little girl who lives with her parents in a small house in Eastern Aeido. It seems that she has lost her pet dog, Rocky. The parents will pay 2,000 Mesata to the Hunters who can find the lost pet. First off, you need to buy a ShortCake from the Nuala bakery on the outskirts of Aeido. You can see it from the Hunter's Guild, but you must go to the cemetary east of the prison, and then walk North and West along the town's outer wall to get there. Once you have a ShortCake (this is yet another Phantasy Star reference; in PS, Alis and Co. had to go through a little dungeon in the boonies of Palma in order to find the Nuala Cake Shop at the bottom of it. One 2000 Mesata (!) ShortCake later, Alis and friends were on their way to Motavia, where they used the ShortCake to bribe the robo-guards into letting them see the Governor. The Governor was a sucker for sweets, you see, and...), it's time to visit Tinkerbell's house. Her house is the one in the far southeast part of town, just to the left of the old fortune-teller's house. Tinkerbell and her folks don't have much to say, other than that Rocky is A) Fat, and B) likes sweets. Thus, the ShortCake. So, warp to Krup. There was a fat little white dog sitting by the ducks in the pond south of the item shop, remember? Well, the dog's not there any more, but the guy standing there tells you that he thinks the dog "went north". Well, there's a town almost directly north of Krup, and that's Tonoe, so don't go there. Instead, you must head to Monsen. Stupid vague townsfolk; Monsen is much further East of Krup than it is North... grumble...mutter... To get to Monsen, first head back to Krup. From Krup, you want to head North until you come to ValleyMaze (but don't enter it!), then proceed East and just a bit South. You'll come across a huge patch of quicksand, surrounded by mountains. If you're not in the Land Rover for some reason, hop in it now, and motor on over the quicksand, heading NE. Keep the mountains to the North in sight, and you'll soon see it! Once in Monsen, you'll find Fatty...er...Rocky sitting next to that big crack in the ground in the Southeast part of town. IF you have ShortCake in your inventory, talk to Rocky not once, but twice. Chaz will feed Rocky the ShortCake, and you'll find yourself back in Tinkerbell's house in Aeido. The overjoyed parents will submit the 2,000 Mesata to the Hunter's Guild, so be sure to speak to the receptionist to claim it. Wow, all that walking and warping around, searching through towns for a fat little dog, having to make a side trip to a semi-hidden shop to buy an otherwise useless item... all that for a grand total of 1,720 Mesata after expenses. Oh well, at least it's over, and you can get on with more important things, like going to the Ladea Tower. In fact, let's do that right now! It's time to travel... ------------------------ To the Village of Monsen ------------------------ Suggested Level: Gryz 17, Chaz & Rika 16, Demi 12 Suggested Level to reach: Gryz & Chaz 17, Rika 16, Demi 12 Monsters you may face: Crawler, Sand Newt, Locusta, Caterpillr, Sand Worm, Fanbite Land Rover foes: GrassHound, Forced Fly, DesrtLeech First off, head back to Krup. From Krup, you want to head North until you come to ValleyMaze (but don't enter it!), then proceed East and just a bit South. You'll come across a huge patch of quicksand, surrounded by mountains. If you're not in the Land Rover for some reason, hop in it now, and motor on over the quicksand, heading NE. Keep the mountains to the North in sight, and you'll soon come across a village! Of course, if you just got done doing the Tinkerbell's Dog Job, then you can simply use Ryuka to warp to Monsen. In any case, Monsen is a good place to stop for a bit and rest, but first, let's examine the local wildlife: Caterpillrs are a new breed of Crawler-type monsters, and boy, they are a definate upgrade! They have 170 HP or so, deal 25-30 damage with a regular attack, and can spit poison. They also dodge physical attacks quite often, which is especially bad considering you no longer have access to GiFoi or GiWat. Bah! You can either take the hits and just Macro A them to death, or you can burn a few Crashes, CrossCuts, and DblSlashes to kill them quickly. Chaz's Zan comes in handy if you encounter them in larger groupings. Fan Bites are yet another Locusta relative (and a monster from PSII). With around 250 HP, good speed, and high Attack Power, these are some dangerous giant insect-things! I'd recommend Crashing them into oblivion if you can, but tag-teaming them with Statis Beam, CrossCut (or GiThu), and DblSlash is another viable option. Just try not to let them live too long. Sand Worms, as any experienced Hunter can tell you, are a dangerous and deadly foe. While you can TRY to fight the Sand Worms at this point, their Earthquake attack WILL kill the ENTIRE Party. Game over, just like that. The only thing to do when you encounter these is to simply Run away; you will escape every time. To recap: do NOT fight the Sand Worms. Run instead. Des(e)rtLeeches are the, uh, Land Rover "version" of Sand Worms, except that these guys are beatable, yay! They do a lot of damage, and have a powerful Sand Storm attack; however, they only ever appear one at a time, and if you just keep on firing the main cannon, they WILL die before you take more than half your "SP" in damage, so fear not and fire away. If you fight more than a couple random battles on the way to Monsen, your characters should achieve the following levels and gain these abilities: At Level 17, Chaz will learn the GiThu Tech. This more potent version of Tsu will deal around 120 damage to a single foe. The problem is, CrossCut deals more damage then GiThu 95% of the time - and CrossCut doesn't eat up 11 TP! Save this for monsters that are highly resistant to physical attacks. At Level 17, Rika will learn the Skill Disrupt. Disrupt in simply Rika's (weaker) version of Airslash: she will deal her normal attack damage (or thereabouts) to all your foes at once. This is Rika's only method of dealing damage to multiple foes at once, so try to save it for when you really need it... At Level 17, Gryz will learn nothing, absolutely nothing. You're shocked, aren't you? With all that out of the way, we're quite prepared to enter... --------------------- The Village of Monsen --------------------- Inn: 45 Mesata per person (180 Mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20, Dimate 160, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Monsen is a village plagued by earthquakes. You'll notice a large crevasse in the ground in the SE corner of town, and a ruined house in the Northern part of town. The hunters in the Inn have some valuable advice: if you see any full-grown Sand Worms, RUN! You would be wise to heed their advice: fully grown Sand Worms can kill your entire party with a single attack. Another intruiging thing in this town is the Item shop. A couple of townsfolk complain that the shop owner is taking advantage of the earthquakes (and the fact that earthquakes break things that will need replacing with wares from said shop) to raise prices. Uh, nevermind that this shop's prices are EXACTLY IDENTICAL to the prices in every other Item shop in the game. Whatever. Now, there's another not-so-optional dungeon that we can explore, and if you speak to the blue-shirted man in front of the town's easternmost house (the one with the huge crack in the front yard), you will trigger the hint about what (and where) it is. When you speak to the man, he mentions that there have been a lot of earthquakes lately. As luck would have it, one occurs just after he finishes telling you this. Gryz promptly Freaks Out: it appears that Gryz is afraid of earthquakes. Rika takes this opportunity to call Gryz all sorts of nasty names before Demi mentions that the nearby Plate System is most likely to blame for the recent spate of quakes. She says that it's just North of here (and it is!), and Gryz, not surprisingly, wants to shut it down. Upon hearing this, townsfolk flock to Our Heroes, begging them to stop the earthquakes, if they can. Chaz tries to decline, but no one is listening to him... looks like it's up to us to stop the quakes, eh? Once again, going to the Plate System is optional, but as was the case with the Wreckage, you'll find some nice equipment (particularly for Demi) and the exp and Mesata you'll gain there will help make the Ladea Tower much easier to handle. If you (for whatever reason) decide not to undertake this little side- quest, just scroll on down to the section entitled "To the Village of Termi". Otherwise, it's time to mosey on over... ------------------- To the Plate System ------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 17, Demi 12 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 17, Demi 12 Monsters you may face: Caterpillr, Fanbite, Sand Worm, InfantWorm Land Rover foes: GrassHound, Forced Fly, DesrtLeech Starting at the village of Monsen, simply circle East or West around the small mountain range north of the village. You'll come across the Plate System once you circle around to the North side of the mountains. However, on the way there, you might just run into some new opposition. North of Monsen, you may encounter InfantWorms. These juvenile Sand Worms are no where near the threat the fully grown Worms are, but the problem is, if you don't kill them all, they can burrow into the sand and summon a Sand Worm. If they do this, you must run from the Sand Worm, and you won't get any exp or Mesata for killing the InfantWorms. It's quite the crock, so either run away as soon as the battle starts, or be prepared to waste an AirSlash or a Disrupt in order to kill them all at once. Boy, all these Sand Worms sure are annoying, aren't they? Good thing we won't encounter any in... ---------------- The Plate System ---------------- Items to be found in this dungeon: Repair-Kit, Titn-Gear, Crmc-Armr, Phonomezer, Lasr-Axe, Lasr-Knife, LasrBarrir, Shun-Shot Monsters to be found in this dungeon: Seeker, Gunner Bit, Loader, Slave, Worker Pod Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 17, Demi 12 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 We might as well call this place the "Blatent Demi-boosting dungeon" now and get it over with, because that's mainly what it's here for. So, let's get hoofing. The sooner we can get Demi to be less of a liability, the better. General combat strategies: Oh goodie, more Mechanical stuff to bust up. Actually, that's a good thing, since Demi is beyond useless when fighting Biomonsters. Let's take a good, long look at the newest homicidal Mechs you'll be encountering: Seekers are pretty weak combatants. Their attacks can deal fair amounts of damage, but they have pretty low HP and are quite slow. You can normally beat them down with just physical attacks and not even suffer a scratch. Gunner Bits are a bit like seekers. They have a moderately powerful attack, but they have even fewer HP than Seekers. They are faster, however, and will most likely nail you with a couple of Rail Gun shots before you off them. Again, just use physical attacks on these guys. Loaders look menacing, but your Laser weapons will tear them a new one in no time. Crash and/or Spark will work on them most of the time, but physical attacks are all you really need to destroy them. Slaves, as loaders, are imposing to look at, but aren't really all that nasty. They have more HP than the other mechs in this area, but they are slow and ponderous. A combination of physical attacks, Crash, and Spark will take them down with ease. Your characters should reach these levels and gain these abilities: Chaz, Rika, and Gryz should all hit Level 18. None of them learn any new abilities at this level. Ugh, no fun at all. Demi will most likely advance to Level 14, but she won't learn any new abilities, either. Oh well, this dungeon is mainly here for its plethora of useful new equipment, anyway. And technically, Demi does learn a new Skill if you open that chest with the Phonomezer in it... Walkthrough: ------------ First Floor (Repair-Kit) From the entrance, you have no choice but to head N. You'll come upon a T intersection; ignore the yellow line on the floor for now and go E. You'll come upon another T almost immediately: go S to find a chest containing a Repair-Kit. Repair-Kits are like a Solar-Dew for Androids: they will heal an Android (and ONLY an Android) to full HP. Even better, you can use a Repair- Kit on an Android even if they have been reduced to 0 HP and are, uh, "dying". Needless to say, Repair-Kits are very useful, especially at this point in the game. Moving on. Going N is futile, as it's only a dead end, so go back the way you came, to the original T intersection, and head W this time. You'll see a passage leading N, but ignore it, it's another dead end. Keep going W, and you'll see an elevator to the north. Take this elevator down, to... Floor B1F (Titn-Gear, Crmc-Armor) From the elevator, head N into what appears to be a 4-way intersection, but is in fact a T, with exits W and E. Go E for now. You'll come to another T, with N and S passages, both of which are little dead-ends with chests in them. The S chest contains Titn-Gear, which is better than Demi's Head-Gear, so slap it on her before you forget to. The N chest contains Crmc-Armor, which is better than Demi's Titn-Armor, so slap it on her before you forget to. Return to the original T, and go W this time. This level mirrors itself, so you will again come to a T with N and S passages. S leads to a dead end, so go N instead. This N passage curves E and then ends in an elevator. Take this elevator down to... Floor B2F (No items) From the elevator, head S and you'll come to (surprise) a T. Ignore the E passage (it's a dead end) and go W, until you hit a N/S T. Go S (the narrow N passage is another dead end) until you can't go S no mo', bypassing the side passage leading E. There'll be an elevator immediately to your right; take it down to... Floor B3F - West (Phonomezer) From the elevator, just follow the passage W then N then E to a chest containing... Well, it contains a Skill for Demi, in the form of Parts that Demi can "install". After a bit of goofy dialoge, Demi will have a new Skill: Phonomezer! The Phonomezer is great because it gives Demi a way to attack more than one foe at once; it's basically Demi's version of AirSlash or DblSlash, except that the damage dealt has little to do with Demi's attack power. I'm not sure what it's based off of, but the 'mezer always deals a lot of damage... I'm sure that's why you never get that many uses of it. All right, we've got our new toy, so now let's head back to... Floor B2F (No Items) Return to that Easterly side-passage we went past on our way to get the Phonomezer, and head down it. You'll see what appears to be two passages leading S, but you can just ignore them: they're are 2 halves of an empty loop. Keep going E until you come to a N/S T. N is an empty dead end, so follow the magic floor line to the S, and you'll come to an elevator leading down to... Floor B3F - East (Lasr-Axe, Lasr-Knife, LasrBarrir) Head E and N from the elevator. The game will taunt you by forcing you to walk past 2 chests that you can't get to... yet. Follow the passage as it winds to the W and then to the S, and you'll find yourself in a 4-way intersection. Both the E and W "passages" are little stubby things that end in chests: West side: Lasr-Axe. Oh yeah! Now Gryz can burninate Mechanical enemies with the best of them. Don't delay in equipping it. East side: Lasr-Knife. Uh, what? Are we supposed to save this for Hahn, or something? Just sell it, you won't ever need this. The S passage of the 4-way intersection leads to an E/W T. The really short E passage has yet another chest, this one containing another LasrBarrir. Well, that's useless to us. Don't forget to sell it when you get the chance. The W hallway abruptly ends in yet another elevator. This one will take us down to... Floor B4F (Stun-Shot) From the elevator, head E, ignoring the N side-passage for now. After a very short walk, you'll come across a chest containing a Stun-Shot. Give this to Demi, as it allows her to do a bit more damage, and it will (very rarely) paralyze a non-mechanical foe that Demi shoots (but doesn't kill). Now take that N passage to a large computer terminal. "Search" it, and Demi will shut down the Plate System. In game terms, this does absolutely nothing other than open up some new dialogue (from your characters and from some of the people in Monsen), but do it anyway. You came all this way, so you might as well make yourself useful, right? Well, with all this fancy new equipment for Demi, you have a few options in regard to the Party's battle order. Now that Demi has more HP and decent defense, you could put her in front (which looks REALLY funny, with her little legs pumping to keep ahead of Chaz/Gryz), and let her self-healing and "free" (it consumes no TP) shots of Recover negate the damage she takes in combat. This ensures that you'll be using less of Chaz' and Rika's TP, since Demi is taking a lot of the Party's damage and constantly healing herself. I find an order of Demi/Gryz/Chaz/Rika works surprisingly well. Or, you can keep Demi in the back somewhere, where she's less likely to be "killed". However, even if she is "killed", Demi will not be Dying after the battle; her self-repair systems will restore her to 1 HP, allowing her to use Recover to replenish the rest of her HP. Why keep a character that can't be killed in the back? In other words, there's no reason not to let Demi be your meat shield for a while, strange as it sounds. So, uh, do it. Put Demi in the front. And, well, that's it for this side-quest. Hinas on out of here (unless you wish to Level up some more, which is never a bad idea, really) and head back to Monsen (or Aeido) to rest up. It's not a long trek to the next little town, but we're gonna need those TP and Skills for the Ladea Tower. When you are properly prepared (it's also not a bad idea to pick up a few doses of Dimate while you're in Monsen, and maybe an Escapipe if you don't have any), hop in the Land Rover. It's time to travel... ----------------------- To the Village of Termi ----------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 Monsters you may face: Caterpillr, Fanbite, Sand Worm, Infant Worm Land Rover foes: GrassHound, Forced Fly, DesrtLeech From Monsen, just head East until your way is blocked by a mountain range. Go a bit South, and you'll encounter more quicksand, so you'll need to hop in your Land Rover (if you didn't when you set out) and continue South. On the horizon you will soon see... -------------------- The Village of Termi -------------------- Inn: 50 per person (200 Mesata) Armor shop: Psy-Crown 2800, Psy-Circlt 1200, Psy-Mail 7400, Psy-Shield 4600 Tourist Trap: Alis-Sword 500, Perolymate 40, Pennant 600, WoodCarvin(g) 3000 Ahh, Termi. This rustic little village is our last stop-over before we finally tackle the Ladea Tower. There's a couple of things to do here: First off, check out the Tourist Trap in the Northwest corner of town. BUY AN Alis-Sword AND SOME Perolymate, AS THEY WILL COME IN HANDY LATER. Ignore the rest of the junk this guy sells, none of it does anything. Next, head on over to the northeast part of town and check out that statue. It's a statue of Alis and Myau from Phantasy Star! How cute. Finally, check out the Armor shop. Apparently, the blacksmith learned how to imbue his armor from a wandering "spell binder", and thus all his equipment is Psy-enhanced. And expensive as hell. The best part about Psy gear is that it gives a slight increase to your Mental score, which makes your magic defense better and increases the effectivenss of your Techniques. Good stuff, no? Be sure to purchase the following: For Chaz, a suit of Psy-Mail. Sell his old Crmc-Mail. For Rika, a suit of Psy-Mail and a Psy-Crown. Sell her old Crmc-Mail and Grpt-Crown. For Gryz, a suit of Psy-Mail. Sell his old Crmc-Mail. You may also want to pick up at least one Psy-Shield (but I recommend two). You know, just in case you run into some needy Wizard-type who might be needing some more powerful equipment (wink, wink, nudge, nudge). Now, I suppose it's feasible that you might not have enough Mesata to buy everything that you need (3 suits of Psy-Mail and 2 Psy-Shields IS a lot of cash), but if you've been following my walkthrough diligently, you should have at least 40,000 Mesata by now, which is more than enough to support your expensive shopping habits. If you don't have enough Mesata, you either haven't been doing the sidequests and/or you've been running from monsters WAY TOO MUCH. I would recommend Leveling up at the Plate System, if this is the case. The Ladea Tower is pretty nasty, and I'd hate to see you get wiped out due to lack of levels or proper equipment. Well, that was a fun little town, wasn't it? Now it's time to, as the cast of Monty Python and the Holy Grail would say, "GET ON WITH IT!!!!!" and find that elusive Ladea Tower... ------------------ To the Ladea Tower ------------------ Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 Monsters you may face: Caterpillr, Fanbite, Sand Worm, Infant Worm Land Rover foes: GrassHound, Forced Fly, DesrtLeech Boy, this is gonna be a long trip. Head exactly one "screen" Southwest of Termi and there you are, the Ladea Tower. Boy, that was rough. You probably had to fight one whole random battle and everything! --------------- The Ladea Tower --------------- Items to be found in this dungeon: Dimate, Star-Dew (x2), Escapipe, FradeMantl, PsychoWand Monsters to be found in this dungeon: FlyScream(e)r, ShadowSabr, Ripper, Centaur, Haunt, Rune (j/k) The Boss of this dungeon is: Gy-Lagiah, monstrous servant of Zio Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 18, Demi 14 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Gryz 20, Demi 16 Finally, the Ladea Tower! This is an important dungeon for a number of reasons, which we'll get into later. For now, let's just concentrate on snagging all the treasure we can get our grubby mitts on and finding Rune. General combat strategies: While our old buddies ShadowSabr and Ripper from Zio's Fort are here to play with us again, there's also some new playmates that I ought to tell you about: FlyScream(e)rs are more annoying than deadly, what with their regular attack that randomly paralyzes people and the ever-irritating Acid Breath ability. They have a fair amount of HP, too. It's tempting to use things like CrossCut and Crash on these guys, but think about saving that for the upper levels of the tower, and just using regular attacks to finish these stupid bug-plant things off. Phantasy Star veterans should recognize the Centaurs. They haven't gotten any less deadly in the last 2,000 years, either. Fast, powerful, and hard to kill, Centaurs will plague you throughout this dungeon. Don't be afraid to use some of your Skills up on these guys: Crash, CrossCut, DblSlash, etc. Haunts can be nasty, as well. They have very high defense (physical attacks only do 1 damage to them) but only 3 HP. However, you really want to hit them some kind of elemental Tech, like Tsu or Wat or Foi, as this will kill them instantly. You don't want to let these things live for more than a round if you can help it, lest they use the dreaded Corrosion ability on you. Corrosion is bad, mmm-kay, because it will deal 40 damage to your entire Party. They might also use the Evil Eye, which can paralyze a Party member. Your characters should reach these levels and gain these abilities: Rika will learn the Shift Tech at Level 19. Hmm. Alys, the only character with Shift leaves the Party, and a couple of levels later, Rika leans it. Coincidence? I think not! It certainly is nice to have access to Shift again, as it always helps your Party defeat Bosses more quickly. In addition, Rika will learn the Sar Tech at Level 20. Ahh, Sar. Your bestest friend! Sar is like Res, but it affects every humanoid Party member at once! Oh yes, with Sar, Bosses become much less dangerous... for now. Just remember not to use up so much of Rika's TP that she doesn't have enough left to cast this a couple times when you reach the Boss. Uses 12 TP. Gryz will, predictably enough, not learn a single new ability at Level 19. Or Level 20. Must... be... one... dimensional... Demi, like Gryz, also continues to learn nothing. This has to be the most useless Party configuration in the entire game, honestly... Walkthrough: ------------ 1st Floor (No items) The First Floor, while outrageously large, is completely empty except for a staircase smack dab in the center of the floor. To get there quickly, simply head due N from the entrance of the tower. There are no chests to be found anywhere, so don't bother exploring. Instead, hit them stairs and proceed to the... 2nd Floor (Dimate) Don't wander too much in this confusing level if you can help it... from the stairs, go W, and take that narrow little passage heading N. At the end of it is a chest containing Dimate. Snag that, and continue heading W. Follow the hallway as it turns N, and then take that little side hall that heads W (if you keep going N, you'll loop all the way around to the other side of the floor). Follow this new path when it turns S, then SE, and finally E into a flight of stairs. Take these up to the... 3rd Floor - West (Star-Dew) Not much to do here but follow the passage around the West side of the floor until the hallway dead ends. But wait, there's a chest here! Open it to claim your Star-Dew. Star-Dew is a (for now) rare item that is, basically, GiSar in a can. It restores roughly 120 HP to every humanoid Party member, so save it for the inevitable battle with Zio... Now, we need to retrace our steps, and take those stairs back down to the... 2nd Floor, revisited Okay, walk W, then NW, then N, and then E. At the N/S T intersection, head S, then turn E, and you'll find yourselves standing by the stairs that lead down the 1st Floor. From here, it's time to head E. The E path is a mirror image of the W half of the floor, except that the little dead end by the stairs doesn't have a chest. Boo! Anyway, just head E, jog N, take the E side hallway, then go S/SW/W until you reach the stairs that lead to the... 3rd Floor - East (Rune, Escapipe) Ahh, finally. You'll see a familiar face when you reach this floor. Chaz greets Rune and beseeches him for help. Rune tells you that he'll help in earnest once you recover the Psycho-Wand from the topmost floor of the Ladea tower. Apparently, this Psycho-Wand is the only way to bypass Zio's Magic Barrier. This is the item that Rune left with Grandfather Dorin to retrieve (seems like forever ago, doesn't it?), but he hasn't gotten to it, yet. Damn, he's slow, isn't he? You've gone through like 12 dungeons, and all he's done is ditch Dorin, cross some quicksand, and climb halfway up a tower. Oh yeah, and he's somehow gone up 5 levels. Yep, ol' Rune is now Level 21. Let's take a quick look at what new tricks he has up his sleeve: GiFoi: you know what this does, but with Rune's TP, you can use it constantly. Uses 6 TP, if you forgot. GiWat: see GiFoi. Uses 7 TP. Seals: This will attempt to silence your foes so that they can't use any Techs. Sounds great in theory, but it has a low success rate, and there really aren't that many monsters that use Techs, anyway. This Tech, like Arows, will probably never see the light of day. Would use 8 TP if it ever did. Rever: This is nice. Rever is the Tech version of a Moon-Dew. It will revive a character who is Dying - reduced to 0 HP - and restore about 1/4 of their Maximum HP. No more running back to an Inn if someone dies! Do try not to let a character reach 0 HP, however; Rever sucks up 12 TP. That's 2 GiRes worth of TP because you were negligent! OK, slap your two Psy-Shields on Rune (you DID buy two Psy-Shields while you were in Termi, RIGHT?) and let's move on. Starting this floor's walkthrough over: From the stairs, follow the hallway E, then NE, then N, and finally NW. Take the S jog when you come to it, and then the W hallway. You'll enter a largish room with a flight of stairs, but don't ascend them yet! Continue W, turn N, and you'll see a chest in a little dead end. Snag the Escapipe it contains and THEN go up the stairs, which will take you to the... 4th Floor - East (No items) Once you reach this floor, the encounters start getting a bit nastier, as your foes will begin appearing in larger groups than what you've been seeing. From the stairs, head S, and you will have no choice but to follow this passage as it winds counterclockwise around the edge of the tower. Once you reach the E side of this floor, you'll come across the stairs. Continuing N leads to an empty dead end, so take them there stairs up to the... 5th Floor (FradeMantl) When you reach this floor, you appear to be in a W/N/S T intersection, but in actuality, N and S are just mini-dead ends, so go W. You'll come to a large central room with a chest right in the middle of it. Open it and the FradeMantl is yours. The FradeMantl (the best armor for Noah of Phantasy Star) is an upgraded version of Rune's Psy-Robe, so equip it on him and let's move on. To the S is the staircase that leads up to the next floor, but we want to go W for now, and take that set of stairs that leads back down to the... 4th Floor - West (Star-Dew, 1000 Mesata) After descending the stair, you can go either N or S. Go N, as the S hallway is another short dead end. After circling clockwise to the Northernmost part of the floor, you'll come across 2 chests! The left one contains another Star-Dew! Sweet! The right one contains 1,000 Mesata. Eh, I guess that helps. Return to the stairs from whence you came, and ascend back up to the... 5th Floor, revisited Go E to the central room and then head S, until you come to the stairs going up. Take them up to the... 6th Floor (Gy-Laguiah, Psycho-Wand) This is the final floor of the Ladea Tower, so you can probably guess what THAT means... that's right, it's Boss time! Heal your Party up to full HP (or close to it, anyway) and proceed N up a couple small flights of stairs, to a platform in the center of the tower that has a chest resting on it. The chest contains the Psycho-Wand, of course, but before you can grab it, a foul creature by the name of Gy-Laguiah appears, saying that by the decree of Zio, the Psycho-Wand belongs to it. Fat chance, buster. Time to take this misguided minion down. Boss: Gy-Laguiah (2700 HP) Gy-Lagiah has 2 powerful attacks: Firebreath, and critical physical attacks. Firebreath can deal up to 50 damage to a single character. Of course, after you have Demi put up her Barrier in the first round, it will only deal 10-20 damage to Party member with low magic defense, and 1 to everyone else. So scary! His critical physical attacks, however, can deal over 100 points of damage - even to high-defense characters like Gryz! This is why Deban is essential: without it, Gy can kill Rune or Demi in a single lucky shot. With deban up, they should survive the attack, allowing Rika to GiRes them back to full health. If your Party is Level 18 or 19, this fight should be no problem at all. Do the following, substituting a GiRes or Sar or MedicPw in for Rika or Demi's turn if someone gets wounded badly: 1st Round: Gryz uses WarCry. Chaz casts GiThu or attacks or uses CrossCut. Rika casts Deban. Demi uses Barrier. Rune casts GiWat. 2nd Round: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz casts GiThu or attacks or uses CrossCut. Rika casts SaNer. Rune casts GiWat. 3rd Round: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz casts GiThu or attacks or uses CrossCut. Rika casts Shift on Chaz. Rune casts GiWat. 4th Round and beyond: Gryz and Demi continue attacking. Chaz uses GiThu or CrossCut or simply attacks, depending on TP/Skills remaining. Rika casts Shift on herself and then attacks, uses DblSlash, or heals injured Party member, depending on the situation. Rune casts GiWat until his TP runs dry, then switches to Fleali. As you can see, while Gy has a LOT of HP, his attacks are easily nullified by Barrier and Deban, while SaNer (cast by Rika in Round 2) pretty much guarantees that your characters will all be faster than Gy - which is useful for ensuring that when you have Rika cast GiRes, it heals your intended target before Gy can attack that character again (potentially finishing them off). If you just follow the above strategy, you won't have to worry too much about healing, as Gy will go down fairly quickly, without having ever been much of a threat. After Gy bites it, Rune grabs the Psycho-Wand. Gryz comments on how, now that they have the Psycho-Wand, they no longer need to fear Zio. Just then, Rune and Rika both start acting strangely, apparently sensing something that the others do not. Rune yells at Chaz, telling him to get a move on: they need to return to Krup immediately! -------------- Return to Krup -------------- In the blink of an eye, the Party is clustered around Alys' bed. Hahn tells them that Alys condition has suddenly worsened... Alys tells Chaz that she's glad he managed to meet up with Rune. Chaz asks Rune if he can't help Alys with his "powers". To this, Rune informs them that the Black Wave does not come solely from Zio's power; there is an underlying evil of a more malignant source that not even Rune can cure! Alys implores Rune to help Chaz, and Rune solemly agrees. Alys tells Chaz that from now on, he must pursue his destiny by himself. With her last breath, she thanks Chaz... The game then shows us pictures of the Party kneeling by Alys' grave and grieving. That night, we find Chaz standing alone on a balcony. Rune comes out to meet him there, and they have a converstion about what Alys and Chaz have been fighting for, and what Chaz really learned from Alys in their time together as partners and Hunters. Later, Rika joins Chaz. She tells him how she's glad that she has been able to leave the Bio-plant, and experience everything that Seed taught her about for herself. Chaz puts his arm around Rika, while Rune stares at the night sky... The next morning, we find the Party, Hahn, and Saya all standing in front of Alys' grave. Hahn says he is going back to the Academy in order to attempt to prompt those in power to come up with a plan of action relating to recent events. The Party wishes him luck, Chaz takes one last look at Alys' grave, and then you are in control again. I'm sure you're sad to see Hahn leave, but it'll be okay. You can visit Hahn whenever you like! You can find him in the Principal's room in the Motavian Academy. If you talk to him there, he whines about how hard-headed the Academy's higher-ups are. Professor Holt is there as well, but neither he nor the Principal have much to say to you. Whenever you're ready to move on, have Chaz or Rune warp back to Kadary... ------------------------------------- Return to Kadary/Zio's Fort revisited ------------------------------------- Monsters found in Zio's Fort: Speard, Tech User, ShadowSabr, Ripper Since the cut-scene depicts the Party spending the night in Krup, your characters are fully healed, so you don't need to worry about your HP/TP/ Skills. You should, however, check your inventory! Make sure you have at least 3-4 Dimates and an Escapipe, in case things get hairy. When you're ready, exit Kadary and head SE to Zio's Fort. Walk up to that weird yellow barrier and "search" it. Rune will use the power of the Psycho-Wand to dispel the barrier, and Demi will give you a brief description of Nurvus. Chaz wants to know if Zio is there, but Rune and Demi tell him revenge must wait; shutting down Nurvus takes priority over avenging Alys. Head down those formerly inaccesable stairs, and you'll find yourself in... ------ Nurvus ------ Monsters found in this dungeon: Zio(')s Guard, TechMaster, Centaur, Greneris, FloatMine, Tarantella, Tower, Balduel, Blauzen Items found in this dungeon: Wave-Shot, Repair-Kit, Crmc-Gear, SpacedArmr, Plsm-Claw The Boss of this Dungeon is: Zio, servant of Dark Force (for really this time) Suggested Level: Rune 21, Chaz/Rika/Gryz 20, Demi 16 Suggested Level to reach: Rune 23, Chaz/Rika/Gryz 22, Demi 19 Nurvus can be a difficult and confusing dungeon. There are more than half a dozen new foes that you'll be fighting (see above), some of them quite dangerous. In addition, there's a lot of side paths that aren't easily definable as such, so it's easy to get lost whilst treasure hunting. If your Party isn't at the recommended level, don't be surprised if you have to warp back to town in order to heal up at some point; you will fight a lot of battles in this dungeon, and it's easy to keep fighting until suddenly, you start up a battle and realize that you've drained all your resources without realizing it... Also, try to keep an eye on your TP, as Rika and Rune (in particular) will need 50 TP (or more, if you can manage it) for the battle with Zio at the end of this dungeon. I really recommend using Hinas to exit the dungeon after you collect all the treasure scattered about, and then warp to Aeido for some free healing at Alys' (Chaz'?) Home. Then, come back fully rested, and just buzz through the entire dungeon from start to Zio. You'll fight a LOT less encounters than you did the first time through, so you'll be fairly fresh for what promises to be a difficult Boss battle. General combat strategies: Unlike the other Control Systems we've been in, the foes you'll face in Nurvus aren't all Mechanical, though most are. There's a LOT of new faces here, so let me give you a rundown: Zio's Guards are, basically, just an upgraded version of the Speards you fight in Zio's Fort. They're still just fodder, though. If you take advantage of their mediocre HP and low speed, you can mount a fierce offensive that leaves them dead before they can so much as take a poke at you. Similarly, TechMasters are the newer, tougher versions of the TechUsers that you fought in Zio's Fort. They still use Foi and Wat, but these guys have Mental power on par with Rune, so these little Techs will HURT. Wat especially. You should focus your attacks on these guys in an effort to kill them before they decide to Wat Gryz for 75 damage. Another reason not to let these guys live is that they can cast Sar, healing themselves and any accompanying Zio's Guards for 60 or more HP... Greneris is a foe you want to kill as fast as you possibly can. Why? Because if you don't, he'll use ForceFlash on you, and it's even stronger than the one Juza was tearing you up with! With 400 or so HP, that's easier said than done, unfortunately. Try to Crash or Eliminat(e) him if you can, otherwise use your big guns: CrossCut, DblSlash, and Flaeli or GiWat. Of course, you might get lucky, and Greneris will use some of his other, less dangerous stuff on you: Doran, Foi, or Wat. Wat hurts a bit, but it's no ForceFlash, so just suck the little stuff up if he throws it at you and keep pounding on him. On a positive note, Greneris will sometimes drop a Star-Dew after the battle is over. Hey, GiSar-in-a-can makes up for a couple of ForceFlashes in my book. FloatMines are cheap little buggers. They don't attack; instead, they randomly rush forward and detonate themselves, damaging your Party members for 30-50 damage (on average). This normally wouldn't be so bad, but any FloatMine that destroys itself in this manner does NOT give you any exp and Mesata. Thus, you must choose between using up your resources (Gra, Crash, CrossCut, etc.) in order to kill them before they detonate, or simply running from them. Tarantellas sure are ugly little mechanical critters, aren't they? They do like to travel in packs, but they aren't much of a threat. They possess only average HP, low attack power, and mediocre speed. Just use regular attacks to defeat them. Rune's Hewn can slaughter entire groups of these by itself, if you feel like ending the battle quickly. Towers like to use their Warning ability to summon FloatMines to help them. Oh boy, more FloatMines to fight! You have to make a decision here: do you ignore the FloatMines and kill the tower, thus ending the battle quickly; or, do you kill the Floatmines as they appear while trying to use an Instant Death attack on the tower, thus getting more exp and Mesata for the battle but potentially taking more damage? The choice is yours! Balduels are a bit more of a threat then most of these other foes. They can deal a fair amount of damage, and they have a lot of HP and high physical defense. They are susceptible to Techs and Instant Death attacks, so be sure to use those types of attacks in order to elimate the Balduels quickly. Blauzen are a bit like Balduels: they have good defenses and a lot of HP, and are slow but powerful. They will occasionally shoot a Statis Ball at you, which can paralyze a Party member. Deban takes the edge off their attacks, but using that every time you encounter one is a drain on Rika's TP. I would recommend attempting to kill them outright with Crash and Spark, and back that up with CrossCut or DblSlash and Fleali in case your Instant Death attacks fail. If you're lucky, a Blauzen may drop a Lasr-Claw after the battle is over; if it does, give it Rika and watch her REALLY tear up your Mechanical foes! Your characters should reach these levels and learn these abilities: At Level 21, Chaz learns the Brose Tech. Now, since Chaz has enough TP to use Brose more than once (unlike Gryz), it's not a bad idea to cast it when you encounter a particularly nasty group of Mechanical foes. Uses 16 TP. At Level 23, Rune learns the GiGra Tech. This bigger, badder, better version of Gra will really eat your foes (and your TP reserves) up like no one else's business. Try not to use it too much, lest you find Rune drained of ALL his TP, with Zio still lurking somewhere ahead... At Levels 21, 22, AND 23, Gryz will not learn a single thing. Here, have some smelling salts... that was a nasty faint! Similarly, Demi learns absolutely nothing at Levels 17, 18, and 19. Be glad that both Gryz and Demi have almost served their purpose. Walkthrough: ------------ Floor B1F (Wave-Shot) From the entrance, head N, and you'll come across a computer terminal in the center of the N wall. "Search" it and Demi and Rika talk about how it's impossible to send an iterrupt command to Nurvus from here; you must go to the central computer to stop Nurvus. At any rate, you're now at an E/W T intersection. For now, go W and when you see an opening in the N wall, go through it. Head N a ways and you'll come to a chest containing a Wave-Shot for Demi. Since you're fighting mostly Mechanical foes down here, swap out her Stun-Shot for the more powerful Wave-Shot. Now, head on back to that computer terminal and head E. You'll soon see another opening in the N wall. Enter it and follow the hallway N, then W for a bit, and then go N again. You can continue W at this point, but it's just a dead end. At the end of the hallway heading N, you'll come across an elevator, which leads us down to... Floor B2F (Repair-Kit) Starting from the elevator, head S. Follow the hallway when it turns to the W, and you'll soon come to a N/S T intersection. Head S along the narrow walkway until it dead ends in a little platform with a chest. Grab the Repair-Kit out of the chest, and go back and take the N passage. This will soon lead us to the elevator which will take us down to... Floor B3F (No items) As soon as you emerge from the elevator, you'll see another descending elevator immediately to the W. Jog on over there, and take it down to... Floor B3F - Lower Level (Crmc-Gear) Head S through the opening, then jog E and go S down the narrow walkway. The walkway will end in a chest containing Crmc(Ceramic)-Gear. Equip it on Demi, and return to the elevator whence you came. Ascend it back up to... Floor B3F, revisited Head S from the elevator(s), along the narrow walkway that wends S, then E, then S again. You'll come to a T intersection, with options to go W or S. Going W leads only to a curvaceous dead end, so head S. After a short walk, you'll see an elevator to the W. Take it on down to... Floor B4F - South (No items) Head SE from the elevator, and you'll come across an opening in the N wall. Enter that, and you'll find yourself on a walkway not unlike the between-spires tunnels of Zio's Fort. Walk across it, and you'll emerge at... Floor B4F - North (No items) Follow the yellow floor line E, then N along a long, narrow walkway. Ignore the dead end W passage and continue N until you come to another descending elevator. Take it down to... Floor B5F (SpacedArmr) Ignore the other elevator you see for now, and head S. When you come to a side passage leading W, take it, as continuing S leads only to a long, LONG dead end. Follow the hallway W, then turn N. You'll come to a cheast containing, uh, SpacedArmr. This is better armor for Demi, so equip it. Now, retrace your steps, and take that other elevator you saw when you first emerged onto this floor. You'll be taken down to... Floor B5F - Lower Level (No items) Head S immediately. You'll pass through an opening into a hallway; follow this hall SW, then S. You'll come to a room of sorts, with an opening to the W and an elevator to the S. For now, go through the opening. You'll find yourself on another side-view balcony type thing. Once you cross it, you'll find that you are now in the last little area of... Floor B4F - Lower Level (Plsm-Claw) Head W, jogging S around the ledge, and you'll find a chest. Man, this thing is REALLY out of the way, isn't it? That's because it contains the Plsm-Claw, a really powerful weapon for Rika. Equip it on her, and then go back across the balcony, back to... Floor B5F - revisited Okay, head a bit SE and take the elevator down to... Floor B6F (Zio!) If you're not ready to fight with Zio, use Hinas (or an Escapipe) to leave here and heal up. You do NOT want to fight Zio without a healthy supply of TP and Skills. He can kill you if you aren't prepared for him; you've been warned!! Once you emerge from the elevator, follow the yellow line in the floor. You'll go a bit W, then turn N and through an opening in the N wall. In this next room, there's a narrow walkway. Walk along it, and you'll see Nurvus' central computer. Of course, before you can get within 30 feet of it, Zio appears! He makes some comments about how he's not going to let you leave here alive, yadda, yadda, and then calls on Dark Force to lend him power. Boss: Zio, servant of Dark Force (2,900 HP) Just like last time you fought him, Zio kicks things off by erecting his almighty Magic Barrier. You must Use the Psycho-Wand AS AN ITEM to dispel the barrier; equipping it on Rune and attacking will NOT work. In the meantime, Zio will summon his good buddy the Nightmare. If you haven't figured it out yet, the Nightmare is a manifestation of Dark Force; thus the Black Wave and the malignant power it contains. A few things to keep in mind during this fight: Do NOT let any character stay below 100 HP for more than half a round, lest Zio kill him off with a critical hit or a Black Wave. Don't forget that Star-Dew and Sar will NOT heal Demi; if she falls below 100 HP, you're going to have to waste a turn having Demi use Recover on herself. You COULD have someone else use a Repair-Kit on her, but then you're wasting THEIR turn, and Demi does the least damage of all your characters... so stick to Recover. Zio has a ton of HP, so be prepared for the long haul. Buff everyone early, and don't be shy about using Sar, Dimates, and even Star-Dew to keep everyone's HP up. Zio can do a number of things to you: His regular attack - a beam of reddish energy that comes from above - is damaging enough, dealing 70 damage (or more) even with Deban and Barrier up. He can cast Hewn, which deals 10-35 damage to the Party. By now, you should be able to shrug damage like this off, but watch that no one drops too low on HP from it. Unfortantely for you, Hewn is not Zio's most powerful mass-damage spell; he also can use Corrosion, which uses dark acidic energies to deal 35-55 damage to the entire Party. Be sure to use Sar or Medic Pw to heal yourselves after Zio uses this on you. The Black Wave is probably Zio's most dangerous ability; it deals almost 100 damage to a single character, even with Barrier up! This is why you must keep a close eye on everyone's HP in this battle; don't be afraid to cast Sar or GiRes, or use a Medic Pw or a Star-Dew to keep everyone above 100 HP. It's either that, or you're going to be struggling to keep people alive after they die and you Rever them back to life with less then 50 HP... With all that said, the battle ought to go something like this: Round 1: Gryz uses WarCry. Chaz defends. Rika casts Deban. Demi uses Barrier. Rune goes into the Item menu and uses the Psycho-Wand. Round 2: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz uses Crosscut. Rika casts Saner. Rune uses Flaeli. Round 3: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz uses Crosscut. Rika casts Shift on Chaz. Rune uses Flaeli. Round 4: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz uses Crosscut. Rika casts Shift on herself. Rune uses Flaeli. Round 5 and beyond: Gryz and Demi attack. Chaz uses Crosscut. Rika uses DblSlash. Rune uses Flaeli. Of course, you must deviate from this pattern to heal yourself according to Zio's attacks. Just remember that when you skip something to heal instead, you have to be sure to do that something the next round. Also, instead of using up Rika's turn casting GiRes on a badly wounded ally, consider having Demi use a Dimate on that ally instead. That way, Rika's buffing of the Party will proceed with minimal interruption, and Demi can make herself useful. Once Zio has absorbed enough damage, his body disintigrates while he wonders aloud why Dark Force has apparently forsaken him. Gryz, of course, freaks out now that his vengeance is complete. Now that Zio is out of the way, Demi opens the computer terminal (literally), walks inside, and connects herself directly to the system. From there, she breaks through Nurvus' security systems and issues commands to halt Nurvus' operation. Of course, a problem remains: with the Climate Control system shut down along with everything else, Motavia will eventually revert to its barren, inhospitable state. The solution, of course, is to ONLY re-activate the Climate Control system. Without stopping Zelan, though, the Party doesn't dare restore any system to functionality. The Party agrees that they should head to Zelan, but Gryz points out that Zelan is in outer space, making it somewhat difficult to get to. Demi pipes up and says that she is currently prepping an emergency shuttle to take you to Zelan, where you should be able to meet with her "master", Wren. Rika says that she used to communicate with Wren from the Bio-plant, but she lost contact with him about half a year ago. She implores Chaz to let her travel to Zelan to see Wren and find out what's going on. The scene changes to outside. Zio's Fort has disintegrated along with Zio, leaving only the entrance to Nurvus visible. Demi causes a small spaceport to emerge from the sands northwest of Nurvus. There, the party finds a space shuttle waiting for them. Gryz also leaves the Party at this point. Now that he no longer needs to seek vengeance, Gryz has decided to stay with his sister in Tonoe. Hey, you know what this means, don't you? Empty Party slots means new Party members! How exciting, replacing Gryz and Demi with Party members that can pull their own weight! But I digress. When the game gives you control, you'll be standing in between Nurvus and the spaceport. You can head for the spaceport straight away, first I'm going to cover a couple of side quests: Since Gryz was such a useful, helpful Party member, you may be sad that he's gone. Well, fear not, you can visit him in Tonoe whenever you wish! Just go to Grandfather Dorin's house. Dorin will have mysteriously reappeared, and he'll thank your for taking care of Gryz on your jouneys. Aww. Gryz and his sister, Pana, will be in the back of the room. Pana just says, "Big brother..." and Gryz will continuously apologize for being such a wussy boy and staying behind. Wasn't that touching? Yeah, it sure was. Now, it's side-quest time! Now that Zio is dead, there will be two new Jobs listed at the Aeido Hunter's Guild: Missing Student and Fissure of Fear. I'll detail those quick, but the rewards are pretty meager (although you can rake in some serious exp by doing the Fissure of Fear Job) and I wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to skip the Jobs and scroll on down to the section titled "The Spaceport", so you can get on with your quest. Okay, still with me? Let's start with... ------------------------------------------ Hunter's Guild Job #3: The Missing Student ------------------------------------------ First available: upon Zio's death. Reward: 3,000 Mesata for finding the lost Acedemy student. Associated Costs: 40 Mesata for a Perolymate from the Tourist Trap in Termi. Difficulty: Annoying. Location: Piata, then Kadary, then Termi, and finally back to Kadary. Suggested Party Level: Your current Level should suffice. This request is to find a student who has disappeared from the dorms at the Academy. Oh boy, another Town Hop to find a lost someone! Okay, first thing's first. Warp to Piata, and enter the student dorms in the northwest corner of town. Talk to the caretaker (the fat man standing directly in front of you as you enter), and he tells you that the missing student became a devotee of some kind of strange religion, and one day she just up and left. Boy, this one is a brain buster, isn't it? What's the ONLY religion mentioned in the game? And where did you talk to a member of said religion who made references to school? That's right, it's Zio's Cathedral in Kadary! So warp there already! Since Zio's demise, the Cathedral has emptied out considerably. In fact, the only person there is the one you're looking for. How convenient. Talk to her (she'll be wandering around near the center of the cathedral) and she'll ask to be taken back to Piata. Before you can move her, however, she'll faint, and you'll end up taking her to the Inn in Kadary. An elderly man there tells you that she's suffering from malnutrition, and she needs some nutritious food to help restore her strength. This clue is a bit more obsure. At the Tourist Trap in Termi, there is an item called "Perolymate". Its description reads, "Simple cakes that have some nutritional value." This is the item you need to help our hapless student, so go and buy one if you didn't pick one up when you were in Termi (like I told you to, remember?). Once you have a Perolymate in your inventory, talk to the girl. She will instantly recover, and Chaz and co. will take her back to the dorms in Piata. The caretaker will thank you profusely and send the 3000 Mesata to the Hunter's Guild. That's very convenient, since we're heading back there to do the next Job, anyway... ------------------------------------------ Hunter's Guild Job #4: The Fissure of Fear ------------------------------------------ First available: upon Zio's death. Reward: 5,000 Mesata for finding the lost child, plus 8446 exp for the Fract Ooze (14,078 exp if you kill it with only Chaz, Rune, and Rika). Associated Costs: none, unless you consider fighting monsters costly. Difficulty: Moderate. Location: Monsen, and the Fissure in Monsen (The Hole). Suggested Party Level: 22/23 Suggested Level to reach: 24/25 The ever vigilant parents that live in front of that honkin' fissure in Monsen have let their son fall into in, and need you to rescue him. They'll pay you 5000 Mesata for his safe return, so warp on over to Monsen and talk to the folks. The parents live directly north of the fissure in the east end of town. The mom is there, and she confirms for you that the kid did, in fact, fall into the fissure in front of the house. Once you leave the house, the sign that prevented you from getting too near the fissure will be gone. Walk into the Fissure, and you'll find yourself in... ======== The Hole ======== Monsters you may encounter here: Jr. Ooze, Zol Slug (Meta Slug) The Boss of The Hole is: Fract Ooze Recommended Level: 22 or 23 Recommended Level to reach: 24 or 25 The Jr. Ooze here are pushovers. They only have 100 HP, are weak to most everything, and have a rather pathetic attack, too. Just slaughter them with physical attacks to get them out of your way. A macro of Rika: attack, Chaz: attack, and Rune: GiWat works very well down here. After you fall in the Hole, you can go either W or E. Going W leads to a set of stairs that takes you out of Hole and desposits you in the middle of the desert near Monsen. So, go E instead. After a few wriggles in the tunnel, you'll see a couple of blue blobby things in the path; these are the lost boy's shoes! Continue E, and you'll come to a N/S T intersection. Going S leads to a long, narrow dead end, so go N instead. After a bit of a walk, you'll see a large, brown, ugly slug thing at the end of the path. "Talk" to it, and your Party will wonder if maybe the boy was eaten by this monster, before it suddenly attacks. Boss: Fract Ooze (2000 HP) Hrm, a Fractal Ooze? Fractured? Oh well, whatever, let's just kill it. It has an attack called Cell Split that can deal 20-40 damage to the whole Party, but that's what you have Sar for, so just shrug it off, cast Shift on Chaz and Rika, and beat the thing down with CrossCuts, DblSlashes, and shots of GiWat. Oh, Deban and Saner wouldn't be bad ideas, either. It'll go down in 5 or 6 rounds, easy. After collecting your ludicrous exp reward (it's worth twice as much exp as Zio for WHAT reason?) and going up at least one level (if not two) in the process, you'll find that the boy, Tallas, had only been recently eaten by the monster, and thus had not yet been digested yet (this Job just keeps getting more and more ridiculous, doesn't it?) and is apparently perfectly okay. So okay, in fact, that he runs straight home to mommy, who readily agrees to remit the 5,000 Mesata to the Hunter's Guild. Chaz will most likely reach Level 23 at some point during this Job, and this is a good thing because he learns the GiZan Tech at that level. While it's true that Chaz' GiZan will never be as powerful as Rune's, it's still nice to be able to cast it if you're in a bind and/or facing a multitude of powerful foes. Rune will learn a new Skill, Diem, at Level 24. Diem is Rune's instant death attack. It only seems to work on living creatures, however, so don't waste it on Mechs. Save it for something that's big, ugly, alone, and susceptable to death attacks. Well, that was fun, wasn't it? Nevermind the implausibility of it all, just go and claim your reward from the receptionist at the Hunter's Guild and keep quiet. All right, now that we have half of the Jobs done, it's time to warp back to Kadary. We have a date with... -------------------- The Nurvus Spaceport -------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz 24, Rika 25, Rune 24 (you DID do the Fissure of Fear Job, didn't you?) The Spaceport contains a pair of "healing circles" right by the entrance, so don't forget to step on one to restore your HP and TP. Then, head due North and through the opening that presents itself. A Map will appear, showing you the Algo Solar System. I will refer to this screen as the Navigation Screen. For now, the only thing you can do is choose to fly to Zelan, so... do that. ------------------------------- The Artificial Satellite, Zelan ------------------------------- Once you arrive at Zelan, head North, and you'll soon come to an ascending elevator. Take it. Once on the 2nd Floor, you'll be in a room with three ways out: W, E, and N. To the West, there are 3 chests: The top chest contains a Plsm-Sword for Chaz. Very nice. The middle chest contains a Plsm-Claw for Rika, giving her a matching set. The bottom chest contains a PlsmDagger. Uh, thanks, but who are we supposed to give it to? Dual dagger Chaz is NOT viable, guys. Stop pretending it is. If you go East, there are 3 chests there, as well: The top chest contains a Plsm-Field. Hold on to it for now, it may come in handy later. The middle chest contains a Pulse-Lasr, which is a Gun for Wren, whom you will be meeting in a moment or two. The bottom chest contains the Canceller. What does it cancel, you ask? Well, since the game never bothers to tell you, I will. It cancels the cloaking device that hides Kuran from your ship's sensors. If you don't get the Canceller out of this chest, you will be unable to select Kuran from the Navigation Screen. What's Kuran, you ask? Read on, we'll get to that in a second. Once you're done stocking up on free Plsm (which stands for Plasma, near as I can tell) equipment, head N. You'll see Wren standing in front of Zelan's central computer terminal. Talk to him. After introductions are exchanged, Rika tells Wren about Demi's theory that the problems on Motavia stem from Zelan issuing abnormal commands. Wren informs you that Zelan's power has been usurped by Kuran, another Satellite that was supposed to be a backup for Zelan. Zelan's power and communication systems have been shut down by the usurper on Kuran, which is why Wren has been unable to contact Seed, Rika, or Demi. Wren wants to go with the Party, since he can do nothing in terms of system restoration from the now-paralyzed systems here on Zelan. Wren also blames himself for what has happened, so he feels he must leave and attempt to put the various systems back the way they're supposed to be. No one objects to Wren's coming along, and in fact, Rika is quite exited to have him. Well, you have a new Party member, and you know what that means! It's time for a Wren Wrundown! (yes, that was terrible, I'm sorry...) Wren, Android, Level 20 Techniques: None. Wren has no Mental score and no TP, and thus cannot use Techniques. Skills Recover: Heals Wren (and only Wren) for roughly 350 HP. This Skill is vital because androids are not affected by normal Healing Techs or items! Thus, the only way to heal Wren (aside from Repair-Kits) is to have him use Recover. Fortunately, this Skill can be used outside of battle as well as in battle. In addition, this Skill has an extremely high number of "charges", so don't be afraid to use it if Wren starts taking a beating. Flare: Flare is a bit like Flaeli. It deals a large amount of Fire damage to a single foe, whether Mechanical or Biomonster. Moderately useful, but in most cases, Wren's Guns will deal almost as much damage as Flare, anyway. You won't use this much unless you give Wren multi-shot weaponry (see below). Spark: Wren's Instant Death Skill. Will destroy a mechanical creature outright, but it doesn't affect living creatures at all. Since it only affects Mechs, it's not as useful as other instant death abilities, but it still comes in handy now and again. Barrier: Here we go. Barrier increases the entire Party's Magic Defense! This Skill is particularly handy against bosses (since most of them have at least one nasty magical attack of some sort), although it's not a bad idea to whip it out against monsters that rely on magic or Techs to deal damage. Wren, being an Android (and thus a machine) follows that same set of game rules that Demi did. Let's review: 1) Wren uses his own set of equipment. You must find all of Wren's equipment; he is unable to use anything sold in shops. 2) He heals 1 HP for every step you take out of battle. This is partly done to balance out the fact that... 3) Wren cannot be healed by ANY Healing Technique or ANY Healing item. The only ways to heal Wren are to use his Recover Skill, or a Repair-Kit, or to walk around in an area without battles and let his self-regeneration do the job (see #2). 4) Wren uses Gun class weapons, as Demi did. Unlike Demi, Wren gets a rather large of assortment of Guns to choose from as the game progresses. One choice you'll find yourself making repeatedly is whether to give Wren single-shot or multi-shot weaponry. Single-shot weapons have high attack power, but they can only target a single foe every round. Multi-shot weapons, on the other hand, will target every foe you're facing at once, but they do considerably less damage than single-shot weapons do. I recommend using multi-shot weapons most of the time, then switching to single-shot weapons for Boss battles. Wren is, to be blunt, what Demi SHOULD be/have been, what with his massive amounts of HP, formidable defense, and powerful Gun weaponry. Put Wren in the front line, and let him absorb damage for you. Between his self-regeneration between battles and his nigh-inexhaustable charges of Recover, you can put Wren in harm's way without fear. He has some nice equipment to start with, as well: Crmc-Gear, SpacedArmr, and a Plsm-Rifle. You have a choice to make, though: will you use the single-shot, high damage Plsm-Rifle, or switch to the multi-shot, low damage Pulse-Lasr? Personally, I like the "hit-everything-at-once" utility of the Pulse-Lasr, but you have to decide which Gun to use based on your own playing style. Well, there's nothing left to do here but return to the shuttle and head for Kuran. Make sure you grabbed the Canceller from the chest in Zelan's Eastern wing, because without it, Kuran will remain cloaked from your shuttle's sensors, and thus will remain inaccessable. However, if you DID grab the Canceller, then select Kuran from the Navigation Screen, and you'll be on your merry way. Unfortunately, whilst en route to Kuran, the shuttle's engines begin acting up. Wren mentions that there are unknown energy fluctuations coming from the engine room, and Rune suggests you go and check that out. One the Party reaches the engine room, they find that they have an uninvited guest. The interloper tells the Party that they're not getting to Kuran, and attacks! The saboteur: ChaosSorcr (625 HP) This guy has a number of nasty magical attacks, like Hewn, that can deal some pretty good damage, but since he only has 600 HP or so, you can take him down in less than 2 rounds if you whip out your big damage dealing Skills and Techs. Have Chaz use CrossCut, Rika DblSlash, Wren Flare, and Rune GiWat, and this battle will end quickly. Unfortunately, the damage has been done. The engines are on fire, and Wren can no longer steer the ship towards Kuran. Instead, he's forced to crash- land the ship on Dezolis! The shuttle ends landing directly on top of a Dezolian temple, crushing it entirely. The Party appears to be okay, but the Temple's Priest is none too happy with you. He repeatedly demands to know who you are, but Rika and Wren and Rune keep making smart-alek comments and no one answers him. The Priest comments on Rika's "horns" and Wren's, uh, mechanical-ness, and that gets their attention right quick... After Chaz and the others explain their situation to the Priest, he starts making unfunny quips about your predicament. Wren tells Chaz that the shuttle is beyond repair, and Rika asks the Priest - whose name is Raja - if he knows of any facilities where they might take the shuttle for repairs. Raja, who knows nothing about space shuttles, naturally does not know of any such place. He DOES know of the existance of another "ship that flew the skies", and he will tell the Party where they can find it - if they agree to take him along. The Party huddles up, and while Chaz is a bit reluctant to let Raja tag along, the others don't really seem to have a problem with it. Chaz tells this to Raja, who then spills the beans about the space shuttle: Apparently, long ago, a group of Palmanians came to Dezolis (after the Great Collapse, one can only assume), and supposedly their ship is still in storage somewhere near the town that the Palmanians later founded. Chaz doubts the validity of such a story, but Wren says that they really don't have much of a choice; for now, they must trust in the validity of Raja's info and travel to this Palmanian town. The town is called Tyler (Tyler, by the way, is the pilot that rescues Rolf and friends from the Artifical Satellite Gaira before it crashes into Palma and destroys it in PS II), and it's only a short distance northwest of here. As soon as the Party leaves the ruins of the temple, they emerge into a fierce snowstorm! Raja tells them that this blizzard has been going on for a full three months now - and that just doesn't happen, even on frozen Dezolis. Wren suspects that someone has tampered with the Dezolian climate control system, but Raja insists that the sinister Garuberk Tower - which recently appeared ovenight (sound familiar? I can think of one other sinister, evil structure that supposedly appeared ovenight...) is the cause. Well, now that all that foreshadowing is out of the way, let's proceed with our Raja Rundown: Raja, Priest, Level 25 Techniques Res (Gi), Anti, Rimpa, Sar, Arows, Rimit, Seals, Rever. You've seen all of these Techs already, so I'm not going to bother re- describing them here. Skills Blessing: Now, THIS is a handy Skill! Blessing is identical to Deban (except for the fact that it's a Skill and not a Technique, of course), increasing the physical defense of the entire Party. And he gets a butt-load of them, to boot. You should make this the first thing Raja does in any given battle. HolyWord: This is Raja's idea of an instant death attack. The problem is, it only works on undead or unholy monsters, making it only moderately useful. Comes in handy when you are adventuring in dark, unholy places like the Garuberk Tower, though. Ataraxia: This Skill is a doozy. It restores 60 (or more) TP - that's right, not HP, TP. TECHNIQUE POINTS! - to ALL humanoid Party members. With Raja in the Party, you are basically free to cast spells, er, Techs all day long, since he can restore huge amounts of TP to the entire Party, thus greatly increases how many battles they can fight before needing to go and rest. Miracle: Raja cements his status as the Ultimate Healer with this Skill, which restores as much HP as a casting of GiSar would. However, unlike GiSar, Miracle restores HP to Androids as well as Humanoids, so it truly heals the ENTIRE Party. Very nice. St. Fire: Raja's ONLY offensive ability. Waves of holy power wash over your foes, dealing large amounts of damage (about 150-200, but it depends on Raja's Level and Mental score) to undead and/or unholy monsters, but only 1 damage to anything else. If you're fighting groups of undead, this Skill can end the battle quickly and painlessly, but it's worthless against normal foes. Raja's ability to restore health of the Party borders on the ridiculous. Because his Mental stat is so outrageously high (and with the proper equipment, you can make it even worse, er, uh, better), his Res heals almost as much as a GiRes from Chaz would..! And once he learns Sar and GiSar, things become REALLY sick. But I digress. So, with his massive TP reserves and massive Mental score, Raja can use the lowly, inexpensive Res Tech to heal your Party members to full HP, one by one, thereby saving a TON of TP. And if he DOES ever start to run low on TP, just use Ataraxia to restore it, and keep on healin'. As long as you don't mind your other 4 Party members killing everything (because Raja is totally incapable of dealing damage), you'll go far with Raja. As for starting equipment, Raja starts with a SilvCirclt, a Silv-Rod, and a Silv-Mantl. This is adequate, but you may wand to trade the Silv-Rod for the Psycho-Wand, as it boosts his Mental even further. You can also trade defense for Mental power by swapping his Silv-Circlt for a Psy-Circlt. A higher Mental stat is more important than a few points of Defense, so start swappin'! So, here we are. We know a little more about Raja, and we have a destination in mind. Let us begin our jaunt across Dezolis; we are heading... -------------------- To the Town of Ryuon -------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 25, Wren 20 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 25, Wren 20 Monsters you may face: Rajago, Helex, MistralGec(ko) Before we go anywhere on Dezolis, let's take a look at the friendly local wildlife that will try to kill you: Rajagos are just like their cousins on Motavia. High physical defense, decent attack strength, and poor speed. However, being native to a planet of snow and ice, they have a massive weakness to Fire-based attacks. Try NaFoi for a one-shot kill. Or Eliminat. Helex are big, honkin' flies with an attitude. They can spit Flame Bolts, a nastly little fire-based attack that can deal decent damage to characters with poor physical defense. They are also fast, but their HP is pathetic and they are very weak to water/ice attacks (think GiWat). They are also COMPLETELY immune to Fire, so no NaFoi! If you're really worried about them, a shot of either GiZan or Hewn works well in killing them en masse. Mistral Gec(ko)s are more annoying than dangerous. They can Poison a character with Poison Mist, and their regular attacks are somewhat painful, and they normally travel in large packs; however, they have only mediocre HP and defenses, so just beat them down with a mulitude of mass damage abilities. You know, stuff like GiZan, Hewn, GiGra, Disrupt... When you're done playing with the lovable critters 'round these here parts, head due North from the remains of Raja's Temple. After about 3 seconds, you'll come across... ----------------- The Town of Ryuon ----------------- Inn: 100 Mesata per person (500 Mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20, Dimate 60, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Weapon shop: Force-Cane 2500, Silv-Rod 2700 Armor shop: Silv-Mantl 7300, SilvCirclt 3000 Our first (and only) pit stop on the way to Tyler is the quaint Dezolian town of Ryuon. There's not a whole lot going on here, really. Some of the townsfolk know Raja, and they joke around a bit with him. Some complain endlessly about the neverending blizzard. But whiny townsfolk aren't why you are here; you are here to see the knowledgable tavern owner, Gyuna. The tavern is just to the north of the Inn (which is just to the north of the town's entrance), so mosey on over. Gyuna is, strangely enough, behind the counter. Go ahead and talk to him. Gyuna will ask you a series of questions. If you say "Yes", he will answer the question and then end the conversation, forcing you to "start over" if you wish to have a different question answered. If you say "No", he will skip the current question and ask the next question. The questions are as follows: 1) Do you want to know about the damage from the snow storm? A: He tells you that the 3-month long snow storm has created huge sheets of ice all over Dezolis, effectively seperatinging the planet into regions and making travel all but impossible. 2) Do you want to know about the Garuberk Tower? A: The tower supposedly appeared overnight. It's "somewhere on Dezolis", and purportedly, demons live there. The Party debates whether Raja's instincts about the Tower are correct, and Gyuna tells them that rumours place the Tower somewhere "up north". 3) Do you want to know about Raja? A: Gyuna admits that Raja is weird, but says that he is a powerful magician, who used to be well-liked at Gumbious Temple (you'll get there, don't worry). Apparently those in power at the temple conspired to have Raja "reassigned" to this rural area, not that Raja minds much. He didn't like the constraints of such a major temple much, it seems. 4) Do you want to know about the whereabouts of the space ship? A: Boy, just give us the answer on a silver platter. Gyuna flat-out tells you to search the Grave in Tyler to find the space ship, which is currently being stored underground. There, has it been spelled out enough for you yet? Yeesh! Well, that's all. At least, unlike Grandfather Dorin, Gyuna's information is actually useful. The last thing to do in this town before continuing on to Tyler is to stop by the weapon/armor shop and purchase the following: Rune: Pick him up a Silv-Mantl, as it's slightly better than the FradeMantl. You can also buy him a SilvCirclt; however, it will lower his Mental a bit (and thus, his Techs will not be as effective), so I would recommend against it. He has plenty of defense from his 2 shields. That's it. Time to leave this little town behind. From here, we are heading... -------------------- To the Town of Tyler -------------------- Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 25, Wren 20 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 26, Wren 21 Monsters you may face: Rajago, Helex, MistralGec(ko), Dezo Owl, Snow Mole Once you travel north of Ryuon, you'll begin to encounter new critters: The Dezo Owls are fast and they hit HARD. The good news is that they only have a moderate amount of HP and average defense. See if you can't beat them to the punch with a DblSlash from Rika. Otherwise, Blessing/Deban can cut the damage down while your other Party members beat on the Owls. Just be sure to give the Owls priority, lest they gang up on someone and peck them to death. Snow Moles are dangerous for a different reason: they frequently get critical hits that really do a lot of damage. They are slower than Dezo Owls, however, and not EVERY hit is critical, so don't worry too much about these things. If you fight more than 1 or 2 random battles around here (and I suggest that you do, especially with Raja along), you should attain at least the following Levels and learn these abilities: Chaz will learn the Rever Tech at Level 25. Reviving fallen comrades: it's not just for Rune anymore! Uses 12 TP. Rune will learn the NaFoi Tech at Level 25. NaFoi is the ultimate Fire Technique, able to cause 250 damage (or more) to a single creature. Foes that happen to be weak to Fire can take up to 1 1/2 times (!) that amount. On Dezolis especially, NaFoi can really tear things up. I recommend making this Rune's new Primary Attack, instead of GiWat or Flaeli. Uses only 9 TP. Oh, right, we were going to find that Tyler place, weren't we? Well, from Ryuon, head Northeast, keeping the mountains south of you in sight. When you can, head due East, and soon enough you will see... ----------------- The Town of Tyler ----------------- Inn: 110 Mesata per person (550 Mesata) Item shop: Monomate 20, Dimate 60, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Weapon shop: Crmc-Sword 3600, Crmc-Knife 1600, Silv-Rod 2700 Armor shop: SilvCirclt 3000, Silv-Helm 3800, Silv-Crown 5000, Silv-Mail 13200, Silv-Mantl 7300, SilvShield 7200 Here it is: our ticket off Dezolis! This is a really small town, with only a couple of houses and a handful of people, but there is still some information to be gleaned from them. Talking to the folks in the town's northernmost house would be a good place to start. The wife tells you the names of the other Palmanian towns on Dezolis: Meese and Reshel. The Old Man in the back room tells you of the Grave that you need to go and search. Apparently, it's the grave of Tyler himself, who was unable (or unwilling) to travel back to Motavia, and thus founded a town here, instead. Before you head to Tyler's grave, go to the weapon and armor shop. Ignore the Weapon shop (it's a joke) and head to the armor counter. You will need at least 35,200 Mesata in order to purchase the following: For Chaz, buy a Silv-Helm and Silv-Mail. For Rika, buy a Silv-Crown and Silv-Mail. For Raja, you must make a decision. Normally with characters like Raja and Rune and Hahn, I recommend 2 shields. So, you normally would buy two Silvshields for Raja. HOWEVER, Silvshields will lower Raja's Mental stat (especially if you have the Psycho-Wand equipped), and I advise keeping Raja and Rune's Mental as high as possible, even at the expense of their physical defense power. Therefore, I suggest that you skip the shields - this time. You must also decide whether to keep your old Psy-gear, or sell it. It's not a bad idea to keep it, at least for now, and equip it, say, for a Boss battle to boost your magic defense and healing effectiveness. However, if your inventory is full, a few points of Mental on Chaz or Rika doesn't help you THAT much... When you're ready to go on, Tyler's Grave is located in the far western part of town. Head west from the town's entrance and go a bit north, and you'll see it. Walk up to the center of the grave, and search. Chaz will read the plaque on the headstone (something about reaching out to touch the spirits of the dead, yadda, yadda), and while he's pressing his finger to said plaque in reverence, he feels it shift. Rune tells him to push harder, and so he does. Once the plaque has been fully depressed, the entire grave splits into two halves, which part to reveal a descending staircase! Rika suggests you head on down. Do that. You'll find yourself in Tyler's hidden underground... ------ Hanger ------ Monsters found in this dungeon: Gerotlux, Snow Slug, Helex Items found in this dungeon: Dimate, Zirc-Gear Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 26, Wren 21 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 26, Wren 21 Well, this is a first: a dungeon under a town! It's a bigger place than you'd think it would be, and there's even a pair of chests to raid for goodies. There's also some new baddies to check out, so let's do that first. General combat strategies: As I said, I'm going to start by giving you the low-down on the various creepy- crawlies you'll be battling in this Hanger (other than the Helex, which you've fought before): Gerotlux are big, unfriendly, purple frogs. They have good attack power, but what you really need to watch for is their Sleep Gas, which attempts to put the entire Party to sleep. Ugh. Although it's sorta nice to actually have a reason to use the Arows Tech, you're better off just nailing these things with NaFoi or GiThu before they can use the gas; they're not that hard to kill. Snow Slugs (Ugh! Why are they neon green? My eyes!) are slow as molasses but their attacks are just... ow. They can deal 50+ damage. To Wren. While defending. With protection from Blessing. Use instant death attacks to kill these guys before they decide to attack someone with low HP... The monsters here are easy enough to kill - especially with NaFoi - so just swat them out of your way, and let's go find us a space ship. Walkthrough: ------------ Floor B1F (Dimate, Zirc-Gear) From the stairs, head S and follow the passage as it curves W. You'll come to a "room" with exits W and S. The W exit leads to a small alcove with a chest in it. Grab the Dimate and head back to the "room", taking the Easternmost Southern exit. Take the first E side-passage you come to, and follow it until it reaches a dead end with a chest. It contains a Zirc-Gear (which stands for Zirconium, if you were curious) for Wren. Equip it and return to the "room". Keep going S, past the frozen pool, and you'll come to an E/W T intersection. Going E is futile (it ends in a tiny little dead end), so head W instead. You'll pass by an open chest (you teases!), and the tunnel will turn S eventually. Follow it S, and the exit to the Hanger: it's that beam of light shining out of the Southern wall. Here we go into a cut scene. The Party finds the space ship in a large cavern. Rune reads the emblem on the ship, which apparently is called the Landale (For those not in the know, Alis' - the Heroine of Phantasy Star - last name was Landale). Raja, as usual, makes some unfunny comment, and everyone ignores him while Wren inspects the ship and gives it a clean bill of health. Chaz tells Wren to prepare for takeoff... Next, we see the Party standing outside Tyler as the spaceport emerges from the snow a short distance southwest. Now that you're back in control, walk three steps east and enter... ------------------- The Tyler Spaceport ------------------- The spaceport is a typical specimen of it's kind: two healing circles and an opening in the north wall that leads to the Navigation Screen. This time, you have choices! You can travel to Motavia, Zelan, or Kuran. Of course, in order to move the storyline along, we must travel to Kuran. However, I suggest you return to Motavia quick (you'll land at the spaceport sandwiched in between Nurvus and Kadary), warp to Termi, and buy Raja two Psy-Shields. This will lower his Mental stat (but only by 2) and increase his defense by 42. Not a bad trade-off, eh? Okay, now warp back to Kadary, heal up at one of the magical healing circles at the spaceport, and head for... ------------------------------- The Artificial Satellite, Kuran ------------------------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Comm(a)ndBall, FloatMine, SatMinion, C-Ray Tube, Siren386, Piercer Items found in this dungeon: Hyper Jammer, Repair-Kit, ZircoArmer, 3000 Mesata, Repair-Kit, NapalmShot The Boss of this dungeon is: Dark Force, the malignant source of evil in Algo. Suggested Level: Chaz/Rika/Rune/Raja 26, Wren 21 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz & Raja 27, Rika 28, Rune 26, Wren 23 Now that we have that lengthy and uncalled-for detour to Dezolis out of the way, it's time to head to the central command computer of Zelan. From there, Wren ought to be able to stop Kuran from issuing its abnormal commands, and hopefully, restore the various systems to proper functionality. General combat strategies: Another Mechanical dungeon. More Mechanical monsters. Raja is not going to be able to hurt anything here, so relegate him to Blessing/Sar/GiRes duty. And do NOT be afraid to have Rune and Chaz use offensive Techs left and right, as you can always recover your TP with Ataraxia! Now, it is time to meet our newest Mechanical adversaries: Now here's a bundle of joy: the Comm(a)ndBall. The CommandBall normally appears with 2 FloatMine "minions", and then issues a command to have them both explode at once. This damages the whole Party, but only for 25 HP or so. The CommandBall will then use Alarm to summon additional FloatMines, so it can repeat the cycle all over again. My advice? Use Spark to kill it outright if you can, otherwise try a combination of CrossCut/DblSlash and NaFoi. Keep in mind that standard physical attacks aimed at CommandBalls have a tendancy to miss frequently. Sat(ellite?)Minions are, well, just fodder. They are reasonably fast and can deal a decent amount of damage, but they have low HP and defense. It's best just to tackle them with physical attacks; it's not worth blowing TP and/or Skills on these things, unless perhaps when you encounter them 4 at a time. Then a GiGra or GiZan may be in order. Next is the C(athode)-Ray Tube. This thing is slow and weak, but it has good defense and above average HP. It only poses a threat if you encounter it with 2 Sat.Minions, because then the 3 Mechs can use a Combo Attack on you: Charge Cannon! This nasty little attack can deal 60-75 damage to the Party if you don't have any defenses up... ow. As with the CommandBall, try to destroy the Tube with Spark, but back that up with DblSlash, CrossCut, and NaFoi, just in case it fails. Siren386 are humanoid-shaped robosentries, who like to use FlareShot to deal good damage to your characters. Their standard attacks can be painful, as well. A well-placed CrossCut or NaFoi is the way to go with these guys. If encountered in groups, try GiGra or AirSlash or Disrupt. Blessing works wonders in limiting how much damage their attacks can do. Also, they will occasionally drop PlasmDaggers. Right. A gun-toting Mech that drops Daggers. Whatever. Whoa, a non-mech foe! The Piercer is the backwards relative of the Ripper, or something, able to use Acid Breath and vicious slashing attacks. Well, with Blessing up, these things are really not that dangerous. Like the Sat.Minions, you're best off just hacking at them and saving your resources for more dangerous foes. Your characters will make up for their severe Ability drought of the last few dungeons by learning a plethora of useful abilites here: At Level 27, Chaz will learn the RayBlade Skill. RayBlade rocks. It deals more damage than CrossCut, plus it is infused with Holy energy; thus, it will dish out M A S S I V E damage to undead or unholy creatures. This is important, since you will be fighting a number of undead and/or unholy Bosses in the not-too-distant future. So use up your CrossCuts on the regular monsters, and save ALL your RayBlades for the next Boss. At Level 28, Rika will learn the GiSar Technique. GiSar will heal all humanoid Party members for at least 90 HP (and more, as Rika's Mental stat increases). This Tech will save your ass from so many nasty boss attacks it's not even funny. However, try to save it solely for Boss battles; it sucks up 24 TP per casting, and even with Raja's Ataraxia repeated castings will severely deplete Rika's TP reserves. At Level 26, Rune will learn the NaWat Technique. NaWat can be even stronger than NaFoi, depending on whether the target resists Fire or Water better. In any case, it's a nice compliment to NaFoi, allowing Rune to deal massive damage to most any single foe. Uses 10 TP. And at Level 27, Rune will learn the Tandle Skill. Tandle is Rune's new Mass Damage Skill. Basically, it's a more powerful version of Hewn, except that it uses electrical energy instead of wind. Oh, and deals a whole heck of a lot more damage than Hewn could ever hope to. Try to conserve it for a group of particularly nasty foes (like multiple Mechs: machines + lighting = toasty). At Level 27, Raja will learn the NaRes Technique. NaRes is the strongest of the Res line of Techs, and will fully restore the HP of any humanoid Party member. That's right, even if a character only has 1 HP, NaRes will restore them to their Maximum HP. Uses 9 TP, so try to save if for emergencies: you can normally heal a character close to full with a 6 TP GiRes. A number of these abilities (RayBlade in particular) will make the Boss battle much quicker. So, it's not a bad idea to fight enough battles that your characters reach their Suggested Levels, as it can shave a few rounds off the upcoming Boss battle. Walkthrough: ------------ 1st Floor (No items) The entranceway to Kuran is about as straightforward as you can get. Walk N until you reach the ascending elevator, and take it up to the... 2nd Floor - Upper Level, East (Hyper Jammer, Repair-Kit) From the elevator, head W across a short walkway. You'll see an opening in the N wall; enter it. Once inside, head W again, until you come to a N/S T. Go N to find a chest containing the Hyper Jammer, which is a new weapon/Skill for Wren. He will automatically install it, and it will show up as "HiJammer" on his Skills list. The HiJammer is such a waste. All it does is paralyze all Mechanical foes at once. As I've said before, I prefer killing my foes to paralyzing them, but I guess it might come in handy if you get a group of three or four hard-hitting Mechs and you want to slow them down. Once Wren is done installing the Hyper Jammer, head S. Ignore the elevator for now, and go S 'till you can't go S no mo'. You'll see another chest, this one containing a Repair-Kit for Wren. OK, now let's hit that elevator, which takes us down to the... 2nd Floor - Lower Level, East (No items) Head E once you've exited the elevator. After a bit of a walk, you'll come to a doorway in the S wall. Head through it, and you'll find yourself on a walkway on the level below where you started this floor from. From the opening, go E. Ignore the first S side passage (it's just a dead end) and proceed to the second S passage, the one with the Magical Yellow Floor Line. Follow said line to and through a doorway in the S wall. In this last little room, go around the "building" in your way. On this buiding's south side is the next elevator, which takes us up to the... 3rd Floor - West (No items) You'll emerge on the South side of another small "building". Circle around it and head N. The standard floor will give way to the walkway-type flooring. Keep following the walkway N, then W, then N again, and finally E. You'll find yourself in front of another descending elevator. So, descend to the... 2nd Floor - Upper Level, West (ZircoArmer, 3000 Mesata, Repair-Kit) When you emerge from the elevator, you'll be standing in an E/W T. Go E, take the turn to the S, and you'll come upon a chest containing ZircoArmer, which is better than Wren's SpacedArmr, so equip it on him. Return to the elevator, and head W. Follow along as the passage turns S, past the empty (?) chest, and you'll come to an opening. Enter it. Ignore the elevator in the N wall for now, and instead walk E and go right on past it. You'll come to a N/S T; head N. There's a chest there with 3000 Mesata inside. Take it, and return to the N/S T; head S this time. This passage has a chest with a Repair-Kit inside. Snag that, and head on back to that elevator we ignored before. It will take you down to... 2nd Floor - Lower Level, West (NapalmShot) Ignore the tempting looking Yellow Line for now, and go E. At the end of the passage, you'll find a chest containing a NapalmShot for Wren. Once again, you have the choice of giving Wren the high damage, single-target NapalmShot, or the low damage, multiple-target Pulse-Lasr. My advice: keep on using the Pulse-Lasr for now, and switch to the NapalmShot when you approach the central core. NOW we can go back and follow the Yellow Line through the doorway in the wall directly S of the elevator. This new area is nothing but short little dead ends, so take the following route: Head S from the doorway, then turn to the W, ignoring the S side passage. Follow the hallway N then W, and you'll be standing in front of an elevator leading up. There are 3 other hallways visible from the elevator, but ALL of them are empty dead ends, so let's just take the elevator up to the... 1st Floor - Central Area (No items) Just head S for a ways, and you'll see another elevator. Take it down to Kuran's final area, the... 2nd Floor - Central Area (Boss: Dark Force) From the elevator, you can see passages going both W and E, but both are just big, empty dead ends, so go N instead. Once you reach the Yellow Line, stop. The central computer (and the Boss) is just ahead, so be sure to do the following: Use some of Raja's excess TP (and Wren's Recover) to make sure that EVERYONE is at full health. Equip Wren with his shiny new NapalmShot, if you have the Pulse-Lasr on him currently. Make sure your Party has access to GiSar, NaRes, and RayBlade. You'll need 'em. When you're good and ready, head North. Chaz will ask if this is the main control center; Wren says that it is, and he will search for the cause of the computer's malfuncion immediately. But then, Rika will see something, in the shadows... Keep walking North. Soon, the computer will come into view... and there's a large, ugly, pulsing THING attached to it! The Party talks it over, and comes to the conclusion that it can be none other than Dark Force. Well, there's only one thing to do: destroy it! Boss: Dark Force (4550 HP) THIS is Dark Force, the source of all Evil, the Dark God of Zio? I mean, all it does pretend to be a large, bloated Android, really. It continuously fires Flare Shots at you, and whips out the occasional weak Phonomezer. And, uh, that's it. Apparently it's been attached to that computer just a wee bit too long... The one thing that Dark Force has going for it is that it has just a crapload of HP, but with such weak attacks, it's just a matter of beating on it until it dies. Well, I guess it's a bit more complex than that, but not by much. I recommend doing the following: 1st Round: Chaz casts GiThu. Wren uses Barrier. Rika casts SaNer. Rune uses Tandle. Raja uses Blessing. 2nd Round: Chaz casts GiThu. Wren uses Flare. Rika casts Shift on Chaz. Rune casts NaWat. Raja uses St. Fire. 3rd Round: Chaz uses RayBlade. Wren uses Flare. Rika casts Shift on herself. Rune casts NaWat. Raja casts GiRes on whoever got wounded the most in the last 2 rounds. 4th Round and on: Chaz casts GiThu. Wren uses Flare. Rika uses DblSlash. Rune casts NaWat. Raja casts GiRes on whoever got Flared last round. The only reason you might have to deviate from this battle sequence would be to replace Flare or DblSlash with attack (if that Skill runs dry), or GiThu with CrossCut (if Chaz runs out of TP). Don't be afraid to have Raja skip a round of GiRes-ing in order to restore the Party's TP with Ataraxia, if Chaz or Rune start to run low. Wren may need to Recover instead of using Flare, if he gets targeted often enough. At any rate, after you hit Dark Force's lumpy, bloated, pulsing mass with several rounds worth of your most potent attacks, it will go down. After a brief celebration, the Party will get to work. Wren goes off to fix the central control computer, while Chaz and Rune chat. Chaz asks Rune how he knew that what they were fighting was Dark Force, and Rune drops a bit of a bomb: he's seen it before. Chaz and Rika ask him how in the world he could have seen if before, but Rune evades the question, telling them he'll tell them "later". By this time, Wren has restored the malfunctioning systems. All that's needed now, he says, is a quick trip to Zelan for some final tweaks. And so, the Party hops into the Landale and flies to Zelan, where Wren makes said adjustments and pronounces that the Algo Climate Control Systems are now in perfect health, so to speak. Chaz expresses relief that their quest is over, but he's being premature: satellite pictures taken of Dezolis show that the snow storms wracking the planet haven't abated. Wren confirms that the Climate Control systems on Dezolis are working correctly; there should no longer be any blizzards. Raja takes this opportunity to say, "I told you so!" and proclaim yet again that the Garuberk Tower is the source of Dezolis' unnatural weather problems. The Party finally agrees to head back to Dezolis in order to investigate this mysterious Garuberk Tower. However, the problem of traveling on Dezolis remains: those walls of ice aren't getting any smaller, after all. Fortunately, Wren has prepped a new vehicle: the Ice Dagger. It's a bit like a Land Rover, but it's equipped with big honkin' drills capable of tunneling through the dreaded ice walls. Well, solves that problem, doesn't it? Right. Back to Dezolis it is. Exit Kuran, and you'll be returned to the Navaigation Screen. Select Dezolis as your Destination, and you'll soon find yourself back at the Tyler Spaceport. Warp to Ryuon quick, and head to the Weapon and Armor shop. Sell off all your old gear for some quick cash (and to free up some inventory space, you only get 4 "pages" worth of stuff, you know) and then it's time to check out our newest toy, the... Ice Digger The Ice Digger, as I said before, is the Dezolis-specific equivalent of the Land Rover. As with the Rover, you have the option to Attack (by firing the Digger's Twin Laser Cannons) or to use the vehicles special attack modes "Optin"s: Napalm (x8): Is just a fiery version of the Land Rover's Cluster attack. It deals about 225 damage to each of your foes. Use this on OwlTalons and save the N-Spher uses for things like Lw-Addmers. N-Spher(e) (x4): Your "oh, crap, these things could kill me!" attack mode. The N-Shpere makes a pocket of negative space that kills all your foes instantly. Try to save these for groups of 2 or 3 Lw-Addmers, which are a real pain to kill using other means (and might just "kill" YOU in the meantime!). Works on Biomonsters and Mechanical foes alike. For the curious, the Ice Digger begins each battle with 960 SP. Once again, the vibrations of the Ice Digger will lure forth big, strong, nasty, evil, vile, monstrous, and otherwise not-encountered enemies, all of which will promptly attack you. Here's a list of the beasties you'll run into while driving the Ice Digger: Lw-Addmers are the Dezolian cousins of our good buddy from the Ladea Tower, Gy-Laguiah. Like most vehicle-only monsters, these things are dangerous only because you cannot heal "SP" during battle. They can strike you with their pointy bits for 75 damage, and they have Ray Breath, a potent little attack that deals up to 155(!) damage. If you get more than one, I recommend laying the smack down with the N-Spher, which will kill them all in one shot. They give you only 221 exp and 1 Mesata each; it's up to you if you think they are worth fighting or not. OwlTalons are weak to Fire, so a single blast of Napalm will normally kill the lot of them (it deals 450 damage to each Owl, double the normal amount). Their attacks are fairly powerful, but nothing too scary. Just use Napalm and get the battle over with. Worth decent amounts of both exp and Mesata. ProtectBits only take 100 damage (rougly half the usual damage) from Napalm, first and foremost, so don't waste that on them. They have a LaserCannon that can deal 70-100 damage, but their HP is pretty low, so just bust them up with the Digger's Laser Cannons. A single attack will kit a Bit with ease. As you might expect, these things are worth very little exp, but at least they give you more than 1 Mestata. Finally, you can drive right through the dreaded Ice Walls of Dezolis, using the gigantic drills mounted on the front of the Digger. Ice Walls look a LOT like the mountains of Dezolis, except that are a very pale bluish-green sort of color, not unlike the snowy ground you've been walking over. Okay, I think we've said enough about the Ice Digger. Leave Ryuon behind; it's time we headed... ------------------- To the Town of Zosa ------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 24, Chaz & Rika 28, Rune 26, Raja 27 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 24, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Monsters you may face: North of Ryuon: Rajago, Helex, MistralGec(ko), Dezo Owl, Snow Mole Area around Zosa: Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit From Ryuon, head due North. After a bit of traveling, you'll find that an Ice Wall is preventing further progress. It's time to jump into the Ice Digger and test it out, eh? Once you bust your way Northeast through the Ice Wall, you'll see a town just a little bit to the East. Before you rush off to begin checking out Zosa, I would advise fighting a few monsters in the Ice Digger, to get a feel for its attacks. You'll be using it a lot more than you did the Land Rover. Once you're comfortable with the Ice Digger's attacks, hop on out and examine the new local wildlife: Red Moles are tougher variations of Snow Moles. They aren't as weak to Fire, they have more HP, and thier attacks are a bit stronger. Like the Snow Moles, their attacks are all-or-nothing, dealing either 1 damage or Criticalling for a lot more (usually about 50). Just use Hewn or AirSlash on them, if you get more than one in a group. SkyTiaras are the new, deadlier version of Dezo Owls. These things really pack a whallop - and are fast, to boot - so try to kill them quickly, with Chaz and Rika's Double Damage attacks, Wren's Flare and Rune's NaFoi (they, like the Snow Owls, are weak to Fire). If you can't dispose of them quickly, they're bound to nail you with their SuperSonic attack, which deals 30 damage to everyone, even Rune. That's a lot of damage from a non-Boss monster, so make these things a priority. Biter Flies are the next incarnation of the Rajago-type monster. Like all the rest, they have a lot of HP and high defense, with very strong attacks and low speed. Use Instant Death attacks for an easy victory; these things fall prey to them every time. Snow Slugs are a joke. Sure, they're all big and neon green and menacing looking and stuff... but they only have 300 HP, plus a severe weakness to Fire, and their attacks are just laughable - even the once-feared Cell Split. The fastest way to kill one is just to have everyone defend while Rune cooks it to a nice golden brown with NaFoi. If you fight enough battles (and you ought to, it won't take too many, around here). You might even go up a few Levels. At the very least, fight until Raja reaches Level 28 so he can learn the GiSar Tech. Raja's insane Mental + GiRes on everyone at once = restoration of the vast majority of the entire Party's HP. Very nice. Uses 24 TP. Oh yes, I mentioned something about a town, didn't I? Once Raja learns GiSar, stop your aimless meanderings and enter... ---------------- The Town of Zosa ---------------- Inn: 120 Mesata per person (600 Mesata) Item shop: Dimate 160, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70, Pengu-Feed 800 Armor shop: PhantaRobe 8400 Weapon shop: FlameSword 12900, ThundrClaw 8500, TorndDaggr 8300, Dream-Rod 5400 The Dezolian Penguin Companion: a steal at only 500 Mesata! There are a few tidbits of useful information to be gained from the townsfolk here; the trouble is finding the three Dezolians in town who DON'T babble endlessly about the glory and cuteness and utility of the Dezolis Penguin. One man north of the town's entrance tells you that he saw "a creepy tower" to the East. Hmm, the Garuberk Tower, anyone? Another Dezolian in the town's southeastern house says that the Palmanian town of Meese and Reshel are - get this - to the East. Wow, I wonder which direction you're supposed to go next? A couple of the more practical townsfolk mention the Gumbious Temple and the supposed destruction of a Parmanian town. There are also a couple of crooks in this town who like to steal your hard- earned Mesata in the name of the Dezolis Penguin. One of these crooks is none other than the Item shop owner! Don't even think about buying any Pengu-Feed from her; if you do, a Penguin will just so happen to bump into you before you can exit the shop. Unsurprisingly, it steals ALL your Pengu-Feed (how can an armless Penguin steal stuff out of the Party's inventory? Don't ask me. I just play the game and write FAQs). Let me re-iterate: DO NOT buy Pengu-Feed. The other guy looking to steal your cash is the man in the far western edge of town, by the signpost. He'll let a Dezolian Penguin follow you around town for a mere 500 Mesata. Yes, they're kind of cute, but you can watch no less than 4 of the stupid things wandering around town without shelling out 500 bucks. Pass. Before we depart for points East, check out the Weapon and Armor shops: The PhantaRobe poses us with a dilemma: keep the Mental-boosting Silv-Mantl on Raja and Rune, or upgrade to the PhantaRobe, which doesn't boost Mental, but does give you better Defense, Agility, and an increased chance to dodge physical attacks? It's your call, but I prefer the keep the Silv-Mantls; there's no substitue for dealing and healing more HP, and with 2 Shields equipped, dodging isn't that big of a concern. As for Weapons, be sure to buy the following: For Chaz, get the FlameSword. It deals massive damage to most enemies on Dezolis (that whole Fire deals extra damage to Ice thing, you know), plus you can use it to cast a weak version of Flaeli if you Use it from the Item Menu in battle. The Flaeli effect is nice to whip out when you encounter monsters with high physical defense. For Rika, buy 2 ThundrClaws. In addition to having excellent attack power, you can Use the Claws from the Item Menu in battle to cast a weak, single-target version of Tandle. You may even want to pick up a third one for Raja to use, instead of having him defending all the time. While I don't recommend you buy any TorndDaggers, they DO cast a weak, single- target version of Hewn if you Use them from the Item Menu in battle. I find the Tandle from the ThundrClaws to be more useful, but if you REALLY need more Wind damage, go ahead and snag a TorndDagger. Lastly, the Dream-Rod will cast Bindwa if you Use it from the Item Menu in battle. Unlike the other items, the Dream-Rod's Bindwa will put ALL your foes to sleep, or paralyze them, or whatever you want to call it. Again, this is a GREAT idea for Raja, who otherwise spends most battles twiddling his thumbs. Be warned, Bindwa is ONLY effective on Biomonsters, and not Mechs. Sell off all your old Plsm stuff, too, while you're at it. And that should about do it for this area. You have some choices to make, now. The obvious way to go is East, to those two Parmanian towns, Meese and Reshel. However, there is not one, but two nearby optional areas you can reach in the Ice Digger. As usual, I'm going to list these optional areas right now, because the Levels, Mesata, items, and equipment you gain by completing them will make the next "real" dungeon that much easier to complete. If you're not in a side-quest mood, don't like better swag for your characters, are in a hurry, or whatever excuse you're giving me at this point, feel free to skip these two optional dungeons by scrolling down to the section titled, "To the Town of Reshel". If you didn't scroll down, we'll begin with a visit... ---------------- To the Myst Vale ---------------- Suggested Level: Wren 24, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 24, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Monsters you may face: Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit The first thing you'll need to do is fire up the Ice Digger. Now, head due West and you'll come to an Ice Wall almost immediately. Tunnel through it, first going a few "paces" West and then turning North. Keep going NW, and soon enough you'll emerge from the Ice Wall into a small clearing. You will also see a small cave in the Northern mountains. Disembark from the Digger, and enter the cave. You will find yourself in... ------------- The Myst Vale ------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: HungryMole, SkyTiara, Tech-Plant Items found in this dungeon: Trimate, Star-Dew, Silvr-Tusk Suggested Level: Wren 24, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 25, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 The Myst Vale is not a very long dungeon, but it has its share of twists and turns. I've gone over the SkyTiaras previously, but there's also a couple of new creatures that you may encounter: HungryMoles are much like the other Moles you have faced. They deal very little damage with their standard attacks - it's their Double Slash that you need to be careful of. They are also fairly fast. But, because they only have about 180 HP and are very weak to Fire, you should be able to dispatch them with physical attacks (and NaFoi) before they can do much to you. Tech-Plants are the Dezolian version of FlyScreamrs, I think. These things are slow, have only a moderate amount of HP, and (like everything else around here) take double damage from Fire-based attacks. They can use a pretty potent GiWat on you, and will occasionally try to paralyze your Party members with Rimit, but if you have Chaz attack with the FlameSword and have Rune cast NaFoi (or Flaeli), they'll never live long enough to do either. This dungeon is so short that your characters probably won't go up any Levels, and even if they did, no one learns anything anyway. Boring! Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level, part A (Trimate) From the entrance, you have little choice but to head NW. After a while, the passage turns to the E, so follow it. You'll see a some steps leading up to a ledge to the N; we'll go up that way in a bit, but for now, continue walking E. You'll come to a dead end with a chest in it. Snag your Trimate out of the chest, then go up the steps onto that ledge you just passed. There will be an opening in the N wall; enter it. Entry Level, part B (Star-Dew) From the opening, head N. You'll come to another ledge, but no stairs this time. For now, just walk E and follow the passage when it turns to the N. At the N end of the hall, you'll see another opening, so enter it. In this next room, head N. You'll come a ledge. Walk up the steps and onto the ledge, where you'll see a chest to the W. Open it for an ever-handy Star- Dew, then continue W. When the passage curves S, follow it. At the far S end of the passage, you'll see that familiar beam of light that indicates the back end of an opening. Go through it. You'll emerge on that ledge we walked under earlier. Walk a ways to the W, and you'll see yet another opening in the N wall. This one, however, is guarded by a pair of cats. Cats that look strangely like the one by the Statue of Alis the Heroine in Termi. Coincidence? Not likely. Speak to either cat, and it will introduce itself as a musk cat. They sense something about the Party, and they stand aside, telling you to go and see the "old man". Entry Level, part C, the Musk Cat lair (Silv-Tusk) Well, we might as well do that. In the cave beyond the "guarded" opening, there are more musk cats to talk to. Speak with them if you like, then walk W until you see (you guessed it!) another opening. Enter it. This final cavern contains several more musk cats which you can talk to. But you didn't come to chat with little musk cats, did you? No, you came to meet the "old man", who is that gigantic winged (!) musk cat lazing about on the Northern ledge. Speak to the "old man". He says that you have "good in your eyes", and that he has a feeling you've met before. Well, if you've ever played Phatasy Star, he would be correct, in a sense. I can only assume that this giant, winged musk cat is none other than the descendant of Myau from Phantasy Star! He gives you the Silver Tusk, a treasure of the musk cats that has been passed down through the generations. The Silver Tusk was the best "weapon" that you could get for Myau in Phantasy Star, and you had to brave a long, dangerous, pit-trap infested dungeon to claim it. So, be thankful that you can get your hands on it so easily here. At any rate, Rika can use the Silver Tusk as a weapon - it's better than the ThundrClaws, because it deals Holy damage - double damage to all undead and unholy foes! Very nice, indeed. That does it for this tiny little side-quest. Hinas out, warp back to Zosa, and we'll tackle the other one, which is a bit longer. ----------------- To the ClimCenter ----------------- Suggested Level: Wren 25, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 25, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Monsters you may face: Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Starting from Zosa, you will once again need to get into the Ice Digger. Go East and North, keeping the mountain range to the N in sight. After going past a frozen lake, you should see another large Ice Wall to the North. Tunnel through it in a Northeasterly direction. Once your break through the wall, head a bit more to the East, and you'll see a structure. Disembark from the Ice Digger; it's time to tackle... -------------- The ClimCenter -------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Gy-Laguiah, Arthropod, Wiredine, ProtectBit, Dragerduel, Debugger Items found in this dungeon: Repair-Kit x2, PulseVulcn, 5000 Mesata, Compo-Gear, Compo-Armr The Boss of this dungeon is: D-Elm-Lars, minion of Dark Force Suggested Level: Wren 25, Chaz 28, Rika 30, Rune 27, Raja 28 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune & Raja 30 The moment you enter the Clim(ate)Center, you'll be attacked by an old friend! Say "hello" again to our old buddy, Gy-Laguiah, from the Ladea Tower. Like old Iggy before him, Gy is a recycled Boss that will be a big pushover since you've gained more than a dozen levels since you fought him last (and don't have the game's worst Party configuration anymore). In the first round, put up a Barrier with Wren, use Blessing with Raja, and have Rika cast SaNer. Then, use GiThu, DblSlash, Flare, NaWat, and St. Fire or your spare ThundrClaw. Gy counts as undead/unholy, so be sure to have Chaz use GiThu and/or RayBlade. Gy will die in as little as three rounds. Oh, his attack power hasn't gone up at all, either, so with Barrier and Blessing in effect, he won't be able to hurt you. After you slaughterize Gy, Wren will observe that this must be the Dezolis Climate Control center. Chaz observes that the monsters seem to have made it into one giant nest. Wren will state that he believes this system must still somehow be malfunctioning, which is why the snow storm hasn't abated yet. The party agrees to check the place out while Raja whines about the Garuberk Tower and how no one believes that the Tower is behind it all. Well, now you have control of the Party again. The ClimCenter is a "Mechanical" dungeon, and you should know by now what that means: Mech monsters and new equipment for Wren. Yep. Let's go over the new Mechs first: Arthropods are meaner, greener versions of the Tarantellas we fought on Motavia. Their attacks pack a punch, but they don't have much in the way of HP or defenses, so just use physical attacks, NaWat, and the ThundrClaw. Wiredines are much faster and stronger than Arthopods, making them more of a threat. They have about the same amount of HP and defense, so I find that an easy way to kill them all at once is with a combination of AirSlash and Hewn. Otherwise, try NaWat, Spark, and the ThundrClaw. Just keep your HP up: their critical hits really hurt. ProtectBits are the same as the ones you fight in the Digger. They are still a minimal threat, as you can kill them handily, due to their low HP. They are fast, though, and they have good physical defense and Fire resistance. Try using attacks like Flare, NaWat, GiZan, and GiGra to kill them in an efficient manner. Dragerduels are the Dezolian version of Balduels. They have good magic defense and powerful attacks, but they are slow have low physical defense. I normally save Wren's Spark uses for these guys, but NaWat and a CrossCut will take them down quickly enough if you run out of (or don't want to use) Spark charges. Debuggers are big, buff versions of their Motavian counterpart, the Loader. Like the Loader, these guys will almost always fall prey to Spark, so having Wren use that is a must. If you're out of Spark charges, try NaWat or the ThundrClaw, but don't use Fire, as they are resistant to it. You want to try and destroy these things as soon as you can; they fall into that "slow but very strong" category of Mech. Your characters should reach the following Levels and learn these abilities: Chaz learns the NaThu Tech at Level 31. NaThu shoots an intense bolt of Holy energy at a single foe. Deals 220 damage to regualar foes, and twice that to undead/unholy monsters. A great way to deal with the undead beasties that you'll be contending with soon. Uses 15 TP. Rika learns the NaRes Tech at Level 33. NaRes (as you've learned from Raja) will restore one Party member's HP to full, no matter what. Uses 9 TP. Rune learns the Efess Skill at Level 29. Efess is Rune's version of St. Fire: beams of blue light bathe all your foes; normal Biomonsters and Mechs will take 1 point of damage, but undead/unholy monsters will take severe damage (normally about 350 each). Save this one for bosses or large groups of undead. In addition, Rune will learn the NaGra Tech at Level 30. This most potent version of Gra will deal severe damage to all your foes. A great way to end battles quickly! Uses 19 TP. Getting abilites like NaGra and NaThu is worth fighting a few extra battles for, so don't be afraid to wander around and kill a bunch of random Mechs for XP before venturing into the depths of the ClimCenter. Walkthrough: ------------ First Floor (Repair-Kit, PulseVulcn) From the entrance, walk N along the Yellow Line. You'll see the elevator down, but ignore it for now, and instead head NE. Follow the curving, S-shaped hallway all the way S and you'll come to a chest containing a Repair-Kit. Return to the area just N of the elevator. There will be a narrow hallway directly above the "building" that the elevator is in. Follow it N until you come to an E/W T. E is a dead end; head W. After a bit, this W hallway turns to the S, so follow it. At the S end of the hallway you'll find a chest containing a PulseVulcn for Wren. The PulseVulcn is an upgraded version of the Pulse-Lasr that I...er, I mean, YOU have been using this whole time. Very, very useful. There's nothing else to do on this part of the floor, so return to that pesky descending elevator we've been walking past this whole time, and take it down to... Floor B1F, center sector (5000 Mesata) You'll emerge from the elevator onto a thick walkway. Follow it S until you come to an E/W T. For now, go W, past the ascending elevator. The walkway will curve N, then back E, then N again. At the end of the line, you'll come across a chest containing 5000 Mesata. Because, you know, you NEED more Mesata at this point. Backtrack to that elevator you just passed up, and take it up to... First Floor, southwest sector (Compo-Gear) Not much to do here. Head W a short ways until you see a chest. Open it for a set of Compo(site)-Gear. Slap that on Wren's head, and take the elevator back down to... Floor B1F, center sector revisited From the elevator, head E. When you can't go E any longer, there will be an ascending elevator in the N wall. Take that up to... First Floor, southeast sector (No items) Walk a few steps E when once you emerge from the elevator. You'll find a new elevator that leads us down to... Floor B1F, west section (Repair-Kit) From the elevator, follow the walkway E, then N, then W, then N again. You'll come to a point where the walkway becomes an E/W T. Take the narrow E side passage: it leads to a chest containing another Repair-Kit. Now, go back and take the wider W walkway. You'll soon come to an elevator leading down. The walkway continues to the W, but there's nothing over there. Just take that inviting elevator down to... Floor B2F (No items) You'll start to encounter some of this dungeon's tougher Mechs, like the Debugger, once you reach this floor. You have 2 choices right away: West or East. A Magical Yellow Line in the floor tells you go to W, so do that. In fact, the only thing to do on this floor is follow the Yellow Line all the way to the elevator. The path gets wider at times in an effort to fool you into thinking there are side-passages, but there aren't any. No chests, either. Just take the elevator down to... Floor B3F (Compo-Armr, Boss: D-Elm-Lars) Head S from the elevator. You'll walk into an E/W T. The W passage has nothing but an already-looted chest. Luckily for us, the chest at the end of the E passage is still closed. Open it for a suit of Compo-Armr, which Wren should equip right away. Now, circle around the "building" that the elevator is in, and head N. You'll find yourself standing in front of the ClimCenter's central computer - and a blue robed figure. The figure insults you repeatedly when you approach it, telling you that this is nothing but a trap and that you're all morons for falling for it. It says that killing you is just a waste of time, but orders are orders. Chaz wants to know whose orders the thing is acting on, since he and the others killed Zio and offed Dark Force, too. The figure says that there's no way you could have possibly defeated the mighty Dark Force, and attacks. D-Elm-Lars (900 HP) You would expect this guy to be some massive-HP, super high powered Boss... but he's not. With only 900, a weakness to Holy attacks, and no mass-damage abilities, I hesitate to even call this loser a Boss. Oh well. If you want to kill him in one round, try this: Chaz uses RayBlade. Wren uses Flare. Rika uses DblSlash. Rune uses Efess. Raja uses St. Fire. Now laugh as D-Elm-Lars toasts in your holy flames of fury. He might get off an attack, or cast GiWat, but I think you can handle that. Once Big D is Dead, Chaz notes that what it said made it sound as though Dark Force was still alive... Wren examines the computer, and says that it's functioning normally. It WAS just a trap! Raja says, yet again, "I told you so," and, "The real cause of Dezolis' problems is the Garuberk Tower." Before we leave, I would STRONGLY recommend fighting a few more random battles in order to get everyone up to the recommended Level. Chaz, Rika, and Rune will all learn powrful new abilities: a fitting reward for all your hard work. Once you're at the Recommended Level, listen to Raja's advice, and Hinas on out of here. Warp back to Zosa for some rest at the Inn (or, stop off at the Tyler Spaceport for some free healing, and then warp back to Zosa), and then we can continue our journey. We are off... --------------------- To the Town of Reshel --------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune & Raja 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune & Raja 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit From Zosa, head due East. You'll run into a frozen lake, so detour a bit South to go around it, and continue East. After you get behind the lake, you'll run smack dap into a mountain range/Ice Wall. Again, detour around it to the South, and then head East again. As you pass the mountains and near Reshel, you'll come across a new foe: Snow Worms! Uh, not much to say here. They are quick and hit relatively hard, but they have low HP and are weak to Fire (like damn near everything on Dezolis, it seems). So, just attack them and have Rune use NaFoi, and they'll be dead before you know it. Or, if you're feeling saucy, pull out an AirSlash or a Disrupt and watch them all die, cut into little bloody SnowWorm bits. Bwahahahahahahahahahaaaa*gasp*aaahhhahahaha!!! Reshel is nestled on the other side of those mountains you just detoured around; let's check it out, eh? ------------------ The Town of Reshel ------------------ No shops. Being attacked by four decomposing Zombies when you first enter a town is usually not a good sign... The Zombies are mainly there to freak you out. They look menacing; however, if Rika has the Silvr-Fang, you can instantly kill the lot of them with a single Disrupt. If you don't have the Fang, try a combination of AirSlash, Disrupt, GiGra, and Wren's Pulse-Lasr (or PulseVulcn). Zombies are slow and only have around 125 HP (and their attacks are pretty weak, to boot), so you needn't worry about them too much. They also give out pathetic XP and next to no Mesata, so don't go getting any ideas about Leveling up by abusing Disrupt or anything. Once the Zombies are, uh, dead, you are free to explore the town, such as it is. Reshel has been reduced to a handful of destroyed buildings. There's nothing to find, explore, or search. You CAN fight more Zombies (oh boy!), but that's about it. Well, I guess those rumours about a destroyed Palmanian town were true... There's nothing we can do here. We'll just have to travel further East... -------------------- To the Town of Meese -------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune & Raja 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune & Raja 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Now that we've left Zombie-infested Reshel behind, it's time to travel to Meese to see if we can find out what, exactly, happened to the hapless folk of Reshel. Meese isn't too far away, either. Just head a bit South from Reshel, and when a large mountain range comes into view, turn East. You'll see a narrow gap between a frozen lake and the mountains; squeeze through that, and you'll see the town of Meese just beyond. ----------------- The Town of Meese ----------------- Inn: 140 Mestata per person (700 Mesata) Item shop: Dimate 160; Antidote 10; Cure-Paral 120; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Second Item shop: Currently closed while the owner is ill. Weapon shop: FlameSword 12900, ThundrClaw 8500; TorndDagger 8300; Dream-Rod 5400 Armor shop: Rflc-Mail 26800; RflcShield 15600 Ahh, here we are. The Town with (some of) the answers. You'll want to speak to the townsfolk, as most of them actually have important things to say. HOWEVER, do NOT go up to the 2nd Floor of the Inn-turned-hospital, that huge building with all the cloaked Espers wandering about. Going up there is the absolute last thing you should do! You've been warned! That said, by speaking to everyone that's NOT on the Inn/hospital's second floor, you can learn some useful stuff: There's an incurable plague that's, uh, um, plaguing the area. The victims of this sinister disease all suffer from a high fever and aches for about a month. And then, without fail, they all die. The best part is that if the bodies aren't destroyed, they rise as rotting zombies. Gee, what a pleasant little epidemic this is! There's a lot of refugees from Reshel here, and the old Inn has converted to a hospital of sorts to accomidate them. A group of mysterious, gifted individuals - known as Espers - have come from the nearby Esper Mansion to help ease the suffering of the plague victims. There's an item shop here that's currently closed down because the owner is sick with the plague. Apparently, they normally sell perfume. This will become important later, so don't forget about it. Speaking of shops, there's not a whole lot that you need. The weapon shop sells the exact same things that Zosa's weapon shop did, so you shouldn't need anything from there. The armor shop is a different story, however. Be sure to purchase these items: For Chaz, a suit of Rflc-Mail is in order. Hey, it beats the pants off the Silv-Mail that he's been wearing for the last year and a half. For Rika, a suit of Rflc-Mail, as well. Rflc-Mail may cost an arm and a leg, but it's worth every Mesata. At almost thirty grand apiece, those Rflc-Mails will put a dent in your cash reserves, but if you went through the Myst Vale and the ClimCenter, you should have Mesata coming out your ears. Also, RflcShields SOUND like they might be worth getting for Raja and/or Rune, but guess what? Only Chaz and Rika can use them. Yeah, like anybody EVER puts Shields on Chaz or Rika. Why bother putting Shields in the game if the only characters that ever use Shields can't equip them? I'm baffled. Oh, before you go running off, don't forget to sell Chaz' and Rika's old Silv-Mail and any other obsolete equipment you might still be holding on to! OK, a few things quick. You may have seen the Ice Wall to the East of Meese, and maybe you wanted to do a little exploring. Well, you can, and if you do, here's a quick rundown of the places you can get to with the Ice Digger: First off, there's The Esper Mansion, which lies to the Southeast through a pair of Ice Walls. However, a pair of Esper guards won't let you into the Mansion, so going there now is a waste of time. You can visit Jut and the Gumbious Temple, to the Southwest, for a few free items and some Laconian equipment. If you wish, scroll on down to the section titled "To The Town of Jut and Gumbious Temple" and check it out. The swag and equipment is very nice, if you can afford it, and you'll be able to Ryuka back here once you visit. There's also an optional dungeon, the WeaponPlnt, to the West of Jut. You can certainly explore it right now, but since the closest town to it is Jut, I'm saving the WeaponPlnt walkthrough for after we check Jut out. If you still wish to clean it out now, just scroll down to the section titled, "To The Weapon Plant". It'll be a ways down, below the "The Town of Jut" and "The Gumbious Temple" sections. Keep in mind that the directions I give you there will only make sense if you've visited Jut and use it as your starting point. Finally, the infamous Garuberk Tower lies to the Northeast. However, the entrance to the tower is blocked off by a forest of regenerating, carniverous tree-things. If you try to approach the Tower, even in the Ice Digger, you'll be forced into an unwinnable battle with the tree-things. If you kill one, it will instantly regenerate. All you can do is fight until you die, or run. I'm not going to cover any of those places I just mentioned in depth just yet: although you can get to them now, you're not supposed to visit any of them at this point in the storyline. Once we reach the part of the plot where you're required to visit those places, that's when I'll go into them in detail. What you're supposed to do now is talk to the Esper in the Northeast room of the Inn/hospital's second floor. So, let's go do that. He tells you that the plague started shortly after the appearance of the Garuberk Tower. Raja the Broken Record takes this opportunity to say, "I told you so," and, "The Garuberk Tower is behind it all." However, Raja suddenly collapses after he finishes speaking! Chaz assumes that Raja is trying to be funny again, but Rika says that it's no joke - Raja suddenly has a terrible fever! The Party gets Raja to a bed, where they ponder his fate. He'll die like all the others if a cure to this plague isn't found! Rune suddenly pipes up, saying that he's had a 'feeling' - that he knows Rika can sense, as well - ever since he came to Dezolis. And that feeling is particularly strong here. What is this mysterious feeling? Why, it's the Black Energy Wave, of course. That's right, Dark Force's trademark evil energy is spewing out of the Garuberk Tower. At that moment, an Esper comes rushing into the room, shouting for help. Someone named Kyra is attempting to get into the Garuberk Tower by herself. The man explains that Kyra is attempting to get past the forest of carniverous tree-things that surround the tower. Now, Kyra is brave and all, but there's just no way anyone is getting past those trees. The Esper tells you that the tower is just to the Northeast of town. So, let's get moving, and rescue Kyra! We need a replacement Party member for the now bedridden Raja, after all... --------------------------------------- To the Carniverous Forest, to save Kyra --------------------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Exit Meese, and head East. You'll pass a bunch of trees and an Ice Wall before coming to a mountain range stretching North and South. Turn and head North, through a narrow pass in the mountains. You'll see some sickly brown vine-like things growing in large clusters, blocking the pass. Walk (or drive) into them. The game will enter a cut-scene showing poor Kyra being molested by the trees of the carniverous forest. Rika wonders if that is actually Kyra before the Party boldly rushes to her rescue by attacking the carniverous trees. You can fight with them, if you like, but the instant you kill one, a new tree grows back in it's place. It's futile to keep fighting these ever-regenerating things, so run! Once you've run away (you'll always be able to run from the carniverous trees; after all, they can't move to stop you from retreating), the game shows us another scene in which Chaz leads a dazed Kyra away from the carniverous forest while expressing dismay about the trees' regenerative nature. The scene then cuts to the interior of the Ice Digger. Kyra thanks the Party for rescuing her, and asks them who they are. Rika explains that they were sent by Kyra's Esper friends to rescue her, and Chaz scolds Kyra, saying that it was, well, pretty reckless of her to try and tackle the trees alone. Kyra explains that she just had to do SOMETHING; she was tired of watching all those people suffer. But she misjudged how dangerous the carniverous trees were... Chaz wonders if there's some way to destroy the carniverous forest, and Kyra says that she may know of a way. It seems that the "chief" of the Esper Mansion, a man known as Lutz (yes, that Lutz, the Esper who helped the Heroes of Phantasy Star II), may know of something that will defeat the carniverous trees. Apparently, he's kept himself alive for over 2,000 years, in the depths of Esper Mansion. Or so the story goes... At any rate, Kyra seems rather smitten with the legendary Lutz (she even SAW him once, during a ceremony, like ohmygod!), but her advice to seek his help is sound, so the Party decides to head to Esper Mansion and see if they can't get an audience with this Lutz. And so, Kyra joins the Party. She'll be replacing Raja while the old man loafs around in his comfy bed in Meese. Before we go rushing off to Esper Mansion, we should probably do a Kyra Rundown: Kyra, Esper, Level 27 Techniques Res (Gi), Foi (Gi), Anti, Rimpa, Gra. You've seen these before. Move along, move along. Skills Medice (18): Medice is pretty sweet: it's an extra-stregth GiRes that can heal anyone, Androids included. 180 HP (or more) worth of healing, usable on every Party member, and a ton of "charges". It's not on par with Raja's brand of insane healing ability, but it's pretty close. Flaeli (13): The same as Rune's Flaeli; but Kyra's is weaker since she simply doesn't have the Mental power that Rune does. Telele (9): Oh boy, get ready to be impressed: Telele is the almighty Gelun Tech that you never once had Hahn cast - in Skill form! Be still my beating heart. I think I'll just stick to killing my enemies instead of putzing around with maybe - if I'm lucky - lowering their attack power. You should, too. Hewn (5): The same as Rune's Hewn; but Kyra's is weaker since she simply doesn't have the Mental power that Rune does. Kyra is, well, like Alys crossed with Rune and a pinch of Raja or Demi. She uses Slashers, has average HP, defense, and Foi Techs, like Alys. She has Fleali, Hewn, and a ton of TP, like Rune. And finally, she has restorative Techs and Medice, like Raja and Demi. A very... diverse character. Kyra is nice to have for a number of reasons, like more uses of Hewn (even if they are weaker than Rune's), the ability to cast GiRes (and use Medice, which is even better), and lastly, it NEVER hurts to have a character than can use Slashers. I really like having Wren with his PulseVulcn and Kyra with her LacoSlashrs, as those two can tear groups of monsters to pieces without having to expend any TP or Skill charges. Kyra comes equipped with a Silv-Crown, a Rflc-Robe, one LacoSlashr, and a RflcShield. Come on, one Slasher and one Shield? Bah! We'll have to pick her up a second Slasher once we get to Jut; they sell them there. In addition, I would take the time to warp back to Tyler in order to buy Kyra a Sivl-Mantl from the armor shop there. It will raise her Mental stat by 3, which will make her Fleali, Hewn, and Medice Skills more powerful. Overall, Kyra is a useful character that does a lot of things well but has no real outstanding strengths or debilitating weaknesses. Her slashers do good damage, but she has only moderate HP and defense. She has a lot of TP, but not a lot of useful Techs to use them with. She has a nice balance of offensive and defensive abilities, but with her slightly-above-average Mental score, her abilities aren't as strong as say, Rune's or Raja's. She's Rune without the insane Mental score; Raja without the ability to utterly obliterate the undead; Alys without the powerful offensive abilities. A jack- of-all-trades, and a master of none. Now that your path is decided, warp back to Meese, and rest at the Inn. Once you're all freshened up and ready to go, we'll head off... -------------------- To the Esper Mansion -------------------- Suggested Level: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Okay. Starting from Meese, hop in your Ice Digger and head East. You will (literally) run into an Ice Wall. Tunnel Southeast through it for a ways, and you will emerge from the ice into a forested area. Again, go East, dodging South around the clumps of trees, until you find yourself in front of yet another Ice Wall. Tunnel in a Northeasterly direction, and you'll run smack dab into... ----------------- The Esper Mansion ----------------- Items found in this area: 10,000 Mesata, Sol-Dew, Rflc-Robe, Laco-Rod Now that Kyra is in the Party, the guards will stand aside and let you in the Mansion. There's a number of things to do in this Mansion, but let's begin with the gathering of information. You might notice the large statues scattered throughout the Mansion... you guessed it, they're all statues of Alis, the Heroine who destroyed the tyrant Lassic and the foul Dark Falz 2,000 years ago. The men in the large room North of the Mansion's entrance speak of a potent Sword that has been passed down from generation to generation since ancient times. This Sword, dubbed Elsydeon, is supposedly somewhere here on Dezolis. Most of the Espers here are concerned about their comrades in Meese. They want to know how they are doing and if their efforts are successful, but the Ice Walls are seriously limiting communication. In the Mansion's Southwest room, there are no less than four chests. Their contents are as follows: SE chest: 10,000 Mesata. Yay. SW chest: Sol-Dew. Short for Solar-Dew, I suppose. This powerful item will Restore all HP to a single Party member; it will even revive a character if they are Dying. Basically, it's a Moon-Dew and a Trimate, all rolled into one. NE chest: Rflc-Robe. Great. Now that we bought two of these in Zosa you give us one for free. Sigh. At least you can make a killing by selling it. NW chest: Laco-Rod. This is a nice find: while it may not be worth equipping, if you Use it from the Item menu in battle, it will cast a low-powered version of Efess on all foes. This item is just awesome to have in undead/unholy infested places, like the Garuberk Tower. When you're done poking about and chatting it up, head to the back side of the Mansion. You'll see a large archway in the Southern part of the wall, with two more Esper guards standing in it. Talk to them, and Kyra will try to gain entry into the inner sanctum beyond. The guards will stubbornly refuse to let Kyra (and the Party) enter... until Rune suddenly speaks up, telling them to let her pass. The guards respond with a rather cryptic "Oh... it's you!", then stand aside to let the Party pass. Well, that was... odd. Anyway, circle around that big buiding in the center of the courtyard, and enter it via the archway on its South side. Once inside, the Party will find a descending staircase. As you approach it, Rune tells you the Lutz' chamber is below. Kyra, not surprisingly, babbles on about her appearance like a teenager before a blind date. Anyway, the game walks the Party down the stairs, and they find themselves in an... empty chamber? All that's here is a small table, on which rests golden ring with an orb floating above it. Kyra quickly points out that there's no one here (yeah, go Kyra, state the obvious!), and Rune suddenly proclaims that, well, Lutz is dead. To this, of course, Kyra Freaks Out and rambles on about how Lutz MUST be alive and this and that. Rune tells her to calm down. He explains that Lutz left his spiritual essense in the Telepathy Ball, to be transfered to the chosen one at the proper time. Guess who the chosen one is. That's right; it's Rune. The Party is a bit shocked at the news... Rune goes on to explain that the Algo Solar System is caught in a viscious cycle: once every thousand years, the evil forces of Algo take physical shape as Dark Force, and attempt to destroy all life in the solar system. 2,000 years ago, it was Dark Falz corrupting Lassic, which lead to martial law and unrest and killings throughout Palma and Motavia. Alis defeated Dark Falz then, but it came back 1,000 years ago (as Dark Force, this time) and this time, it corrupted the Mother Brain, which eventually led to the destruction of Palma and the Great Collapse. Now, we can put 2 and 2 together: Dark Force is back, and it surely has some new plot to destroy Motavia and Dezolis, if it can. The Party chats about Dark Force and recent events, and eventually Rune tells Chaz that he, as Lutz, has chosen Chaz to be the Hero of this era, the one who can defeat Dark Force and restore peace to Algo. Chaz is taken aback, and Rune apologizes for keeping all this a secret. Rune then says that they must get to the Garuberk Tower, but in order to get past the carniverous trees, they're going to need the Eclipse Torch (which, by the way, is another item from the original Phantasy Star). The Eclipse Torch is kept at Gumbious Temple, so that becomes our next destination. It's time to leave the Esper Mansion, and head West... -------------------------------------- To the Town of Jut and Gumbious Temple -------------------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit The first thing you'll need to do is hop in your Ice Digger and tunnel through the Ice Wall to the West (if you're starting from the Esper Mansion) or the Southeast (if you're starting from Zosa). Eventually, you'll reach a large, tree-filled "clearing", which acts a sort of intersection: Meese lies to the Northwest, through an Ice Wall. The Esper Mansion lies East- northeast, beyond another Ice Wall. And finally, Jut and Gumbious Temple lie to the West-southwest, beyond yet another Ice Wall. Well, since we're going to Jut now, start tunneling through the Southwest Ice Wall once you reach the "clearing". Once you emerge from the Ice Wall, simply follow the mountians further East (there will be a large mountain range beneath you, to the South), and eventually it will take a jog to the North. Follow this jog, and you'll see your destination: --------------- The Town of Jut --------------- Inn: 150 Mesata per person (750 Mesata) Item shop: Trimate 400; Antidote 10; Cure-Paral 120; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Weapon shop: Laco-Sword 20400; LacoDagger 9400; Laco-Claw 10200; LacoSlashr 21600 Armor shop: Rflc-Mail 26800; Rflc-Robe 18400; RflcShield 15600 Jut is actually a very large city. There's a ton of houses to enter, and a LOT of Dezolians to speak with. Unfortunately, most of them just whine about the winds and the blizzard - a rather irratating trend here on Dezolis, even if it is understandable. There are still some folks worth chatting with, so do try to talk to everyone. If you walk around behind the counter of the Item shop and talk to the shopkeeper, he'll mention a "strange building" to the Southwest. That would be the next optional dungeon, the WeaponPlnt, which we'll get to in just a bit. A few of the townspeople in the northern part of town talk about a flame that has burned for 1,000 years without ever going out. That would be the Esclipse Torch that Rune mentioned before. You'll also notice that the weapon store here sells Laconian equipment. Not that low-grade Silver crap, but real Laconia! (Oh yeah. For those of you not familiar with the original Phantasy Star, Laconia is Phantasy Star's version of Mithril. A metal/material that is lightweight and yet, incredibly strong and hard.) Laconia is the pride of the Algo Solar System, being not unlike diamonds in metal form. Which means, of course, that it's very expensive. Which bring us to another problem. If you wish to buy everything you need from the shops in Jut, you will need about 62,000 Mesata. Now, given that half the monsters we've been fighting lately (half the ones encountered while in the Ice Digger and Zombies) are only worth 1 Mesata each... you may not have enough cash. Now, if you raided the Esper Mansion, you got the 10,000 Mesata from the chest, and you'll have a Rflc-Robe to sell (which nets you an additional 9200 Mesata). If that still isn't enough Mesata, I guess you'll just have to go and clear out the WeaponPlnt and come back for whatever you can't currently afford. That being said, do your best to buy all of the following: For Chaz, the mighty Laco-Sword. While it may not deal extra damage to Ice- element foes, it increases his attack and defense enough that it's not a bad trade-off. I would keep the FlameSword as a backup weapon, at least for now. For Rika, buy a Laco-Claw. If, for some reason, you never went and got the Silvr-Tusk, then you'll want to buy her 2 Claws. Sell all but one of her old ThundrClaws. Finally, buy Kyra her second LacoSlashr. Yeah, now Krya can really dish out the pain! Sell that useless RflcShield of hers, pronto. You'll see that the Armor store is a copy of Zosa's, with the addition of the worthless Rflc-Robe. Why is it worthless? Because it will lower your Mental stat (assuming you still have the Silv-Mantl equipped on Rune), for one, and because you can find one for free at the Esper Mansion. Also, Krya starts with one equipped. Since only two characters (Kyra and Rune) can equip a Rflc-Robe, and you should already have 2 in your possession, you have no need to ever buy one. Okay, once you're done in Jut, head outside and take five steps north. You'll walk right into... ------------------- The Gumbious Temple ------------------- Items found in this area: Star-Dew, Sol-Dew, Moon-Dew, Trimate Well, this is it: Gumbious Temple. Dezolis' largest temple is pretty impressive, but surprisingly, there's not a whole lot going on here. You can talk to the mulititude of priests meandering about, but all they do is go on and on about the Eclipse Torch and how it's Holy Flame and will someday cleanse all unnatural things from this world. Be sure to take the stairs down to B1F! There, you will find a restricted area (there are two obstinate Dezolian guards blocking access to a stair which one must assume leads to B2F...) and a small room with four (!) chests. Since no one is around to see us, raid the chests for the following: Southeast chest: Star-Dew Southwest chest: Sol-Dew Northeast chest: Moon-Dew Northwest chest: Trimate Not a bad haul! Okay, now it's time to head back upstairs. Speak with anyone you haven't spoken to yet, then ascend to the Second Floor. Follow the hall to a large room, which contains the temple's Head Priest - and the Eclipse Torch, burning away on a large altar. Speak to the Head Priest. Even though Lutz commands it, and the fate of the Algo Solar System is at stake, the stubborn old fart refuses to lend it to you. Just then, three robed figurs materialize next to the Eclipse Torch! The figures taunt you, saying that if you want the Eclipse Torch back, you'll just have to travel to the Air Castle to get it. Uh, the Air Castle? What's that? Once the robed wizards depart, the Priest Freaks Out (man, is everybody in this game prone to Freaking Out, or is it just me?) about the loss of the Torch. Chaz and Rune tell him to calm down: they'll go and retrieve the Torch. But, in return, he had better let them borrow it for a bit so they can get into the Garuberk Tower. Now, about that Air Castle. The Air Castle was Lassic's Castle, which floated above the skies of Palma 2,000 years ago, during the Time of Alis. Rika and Wren point out that the Air Castle can't possibly exist, since it was destroyed - along with all of Palma - 1,000 years ago during the Great Collapse. The only thing that remains of Palma these days is an asteroid belt. Rune wonders if somehow the Air Castle is still intact, and floating within the asteroid belt? Wren finds this very unlikely, but he will use the sensors on the Landale to check it out. Chaz has one final question to Rune: the wizards mentioned what someone whom Lutz should remember would be waiting for them at the Air Castle. Who might that person be? Rune answers that the only person it could be is... Lassic, the evil tyrant whom Alis and friends killed 2,000 years ago, thus exposing Dark Falz as the mastermind behind the problems plaguing Algo. This then raises the question of how a 2,000 year old corpse could be waiting for them at the Air Castle? Not even Rune knows the answer to that; he just says that the Party won't know what they'll find until they get there. One final note: as a huge fan of the original Phantasy Star, I'm going to use that game's transration of the evil tyrant's name: Lassic. I know that Lassic is probably a bad transration, and that this game's take on it - Lashiec - is most likely truer to the Japanese version of the name, but I don't care. I like Lassic better, I'm going to use it in this guide, and you'll just have to deal with it. Well, now we have a new destination. If you like, you can speak to the residents of the temple once more, and thrill to their whining and griping and crying about the theft of their precious Eclipse Torch. Uh, on second thought, let's just leave... Personally, I'd just worry about the WeaponPlnt right now. While the WeaponPlnt is an "optional" dungeon, I don't consider it such. You see, Lassic is quite possibly the game's hardest Boss. You NEED to be at a high Level, with the best equipment you can get your grubby mitts on, to stand a chance against him. And that means going to the WeaponPlnt and cleaning it out, getting more goodies for the Party and a crapload of exp, to boot. If you're feeling suicidal, you can scroll down past the WeaponPlnt walkthrough and continue the quest proper by finding the section titled, "To the Air Castle", but I strongly advise against skipping the WeaponPlnt. If you're still here, exit the Gumbious Temple. We are traveling.. ------------------- To the Weapon Plant ------------------- Suggested Level: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Here goes. From Jut, travel due Southwest. You may have to detour around a few clumps of trees, but keep on a Southwesterly course. You'll eventually come across another Ice Wall. Tunnel through it, heading West, and you'll run straight into... ---------------- The Weapon Plant ---------------- Items found in this dungeon: Burst Roc, PlsmLaunch, Elst-Gear, Elst-Armor, Infinite (!) Repair-Kits Monsters found in this dungeon: Wiredine & Arthropod -> LifeDeletr, Silvalt, Sweeper, Star Drone, Servant Suggested Level: Wren & Kyra 27, Chaz 31, Rika 33, Rune 30 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 30, Chaz 33, Rika 35, Rune 31, Kyra 29 As soon as you enter the Weapon Plant, Wren takes some time to explain that this place used to produce automated weapons. Chaz asks if they ought to shut it down, then, but Wren assures him that won't be necessary; Wren already did so when he restored Dezolis' Climate Control systems. So, uh, we don't need to be here... but let's go exploring anyway! Believe it or not, this place has a bunch of new, more powerful equipment for Wren - and it never hurts to make Wren more powerful. General Combat strategies: Well, as you may have guessed, there's a bunch of new Mechs to do battle with here. You will encounter the following new foes: LifeDeletr: you'll meet some familiar faces: Wiredine and Arthropod. The thing is, you never encountered them together in the Climate Control dungeon. Here, you will. And they will merge with each other to create the much more powerful LifeDeletr. LifeDeletr's have a more powerful attack (complete with frequent Critical hits), very high physical defense, and about 350 - 400 HP. They can also use a StasisBall attack to paralyze your characters, and they also have the ever-dangerous MicroMissle attack, which can deal up to 75 damage to low-defense characters, and 35-40 to characters like Wren. Ouch. You really don't want to let these things survive more than 1 or 2 rounds, if you can help it. The problem you'll run into is that Spark rarely works on them. Instead, try a combination of CrossCut, DblSlash, Flare, NaWat, and Flaeli. You'll get almost 2500 exp per person for every LifeDeletr defeated, so fighting them is well worth it, despite the possibility that you'll take a lot of damage. Silvalts are very fast and powerful, capable of clawing you for 50 damage or more. They are even faster than Chaz and Rika, so they will often attack first in a round of combat. They can also use DoubleSlash, which is a potent attack that hits a single character. They also have a tendancy to dodge physical attacks. The good news is that they only have about 200 HP, so your best bet is to utilize Techs and Double Damage Skills, and make a serious effort to destroy them before they can get a second round of attacks in. Spark is also very effective on them, so that's not a bad idea, either. Sweepers are the newer, pinker versions of NeoWhistles. They can use both Lightning and LaserCannon, both of which are painful. Like the Silvats, Sweepers are reasonably quick, and will normally get off a few shots before you can destroy them. Tandle will wipe out Sweepers in a single shot, but if you're out of "charges", try AirSlash, NaGra, and Disrupt. Zan and Hewn won't do much to these guys, so don't bother with either of those. Star Drones are probably the least dangerous Mechs in this place. They're about as fast as Sweepers, but they have low attack power, no special attacks, and only about 130 HP. They also like to use Flash, which will lower the Dexterity of all Party members (ooh, how scary, it's Anti-Vision!). Be thankful when these guys show up, as you can off them without expending any of your resources; physical attacks should be more than sufficient. Servants are big, tall, imposing Mechs. These guys are dangerous for two reasons: powerful physical attacks and the MotrCannon. The MotrCannon can deal up to 60 damage to low-defense characters, so be wary of it. If you get a large group of Servants, a casting of Deban is a good idea, since it will limit their damage output while you polish them off. They have about 300 HP and are strong against Fire and Wind, so attack them using abilities such as AirSlash, DblSlash, Spark (or Flare), and NaGra. Your characters should reach these Levels and learn the following abilities: At Level 29, Kyra will learn the Warla Skill. Disappointingly enough, Warla is merely Deban in Skill form. However, it does have a lovely orange coloration. I should note at this point that some of your characters (like Wren) are, well, "maxed out", and have no new Techniques or Skills to learn. Thus, don't be too disappointed that your Party members are no longer gaining new abilities every other Level or so - they're reaching the peak of their power. Just keep in mind that even if they're not learning new tricks, your Characters are still getting more HP, TP, and stat points for every Level - all of which makes them that much harder to kill. The extra Skill "charges" don't hurt any, either. Walkthrough: ------------ First Floor (No items) A doozy. Walk N and take the descending elevator down to... Floor B1F, south sector (No items) Oh, it's going to be one of THESE dungeons. Walk three steps E and take the elevator down to... Floor B2F, south sector (No items) From the elevator, just follow the Magic Yellow Floor Line W, then N, then back E. You'll find yourself at yet another elevator, which will take you down to... Floor B3F, south sector (No items) Here we are, the first ever level that requires some sort of visual: A B Key: A and B are ascending elevators xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx E is elevator you enter this floor from [ ] xxx's are regular flooring [ C C ] [ and ] are Vertical conveyer belts [ x x ] ---- are Horizontal conveyer belts xx----xxx----xxx----xxx----xx C are panels which reverse certain belts x x x x E xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx x x xxx You start at the elevator "E". There is a ring of conveyer belts at the top of this level, shown as [ and ] for the vertical moving ones, and ---- for the horizontal ones. "C" denotes a control box that will reverse the direction of the two vertical belts and the left-most and right-most horizontal belts if you "search" one. So, the fastest way to get through this chest-less Floor is to do the following: From the elevator, head all the way W. Turn N and keep walking until you come to a small platform with 2 belts attached to it. Currently, you can't use the vertical belt, as it's going the wrong way. To change that, take the horizontal belt to the E, then go N up the narrow walkway and search the control box. Go back down and ride the now-reversed horizontal walkway back the way you came (West). Now, you can ride that vertical belt to the N. This long hallway has not one, but two asending elevators in it. For now, ride the elevator on the far E side of the hallway up to... Floor B2F, east sector (Burst Roc) Another straightforward area. Once you exit the elevator, follow the passage as it winds E, then S, then W, and finally N. You'll find yourself in a dead end with a chest containing... a new Skill for Wren! Yessiree. This chest, like the Hyper Jammer chest before it, contains parts that Wren can install, thus giving him the ability to use the Burst Roc(ket) Skill. Burst Roc deals Fire and physical damage to all your foes at once. It is, essentially, Wren's version of AirSlash or Disrupt. However, it tends to do a lot more damage than either of those two skills. It also has far fewer "charges", so it becomes one of those "save it for when you really need it" sort of Skills. Wind back around the "s"-shaped hall you're in and return to the elevator, taking it back to... Floor B3F, south sector revisited Walk a bit to the W and take the descending elevator we ignored previously. It takes you down to... Floor B2F, west sector (No items) Another simple area. There aren't any side passages, so just follow the circuitous path to the ascending elevator, which takes you up to... Floor B1F, north sector (No items) Ugh, more uncalled for mechanisms. There are lifts in both the left and right passages. In fact both passages are indentical: after riding 2 lifts, you'll find yourself at an ascending elevator. For now, take the E elevator down to... Floor B2F, southeast sector (PlsmLaunch) Exit the elevator, and follow the passage to a dead end with a solitary chest. Open it to claim a PlsmLaunch for Wren. The PlsmLaunch is Wren's latest "single-shot high damage" weapon, so keep the PulseVlcn for now and save the PlsmLaunch for the upcoming Bosses. Floor B2F, southwest sector (Elst-Gear, Elst-Armor, infinite Repair-Kits) After getting out of the elevator, head a bit to the N, and you'll see an empty chest (grrr!). Oh well, walk a few paces E and you'll find yourself in a dead end with 2 unlooted chests and a computer terminal: In the left chest, you'll find a set of Elst-Gear for Wren. Elst (Elastic? Electrostatic? I'm stumped, here) is better than Compo, so equip it. In the right chest, you'll find a suit of Elst-Armor for Wren. It's better than the Compo-Armor, so put it on. And let's not forget that unobtrusive little computer terminal, which just so happens to double as a Repair-Kit dispenser. Yep, whenever you "search" the terminal, you acquire another Repair-Kit. Every time. Just don't go overboard - you DO only have so much inventory space, you know. Ok, we're done here. If you like, you can fight a few more battles until your characters are drained of TP and Skills (an extra Level never hurts) and then leave. Or, you can just Hinas on out of here right now. Either way, you've done all you can here, and it's time to get on with the main Quest. ----------------- To the Air Castle ----------------- Suggested Level: Wren 30, Chaz 33, Rika 35, Rune 31, Kyra 29 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 30, Chaz 33, Rika 35, Rune 31, Kyra 29 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit If you just got done doing the Weapon Plant, I would recommend returning to a Town - any Town, doesn't matter - and selling off all of Wren's old equipment, and anything else you don't need (like Dimates, extra Escapipes and Telepipes, etc.). There's a fair amount of treasure in the Air Castle, and you really don't want to get stuck playing the "swap or drop" game every time you open a chest because your Party's inventory is full. The only way to reach the Asteroid Belt where the Air Castle waits is to return to Tyler Spaceport. Once you enter the spaceport, the game will enter a short cut-scence wherein Wren finds the Air Castle amidst the debris of the Asteroid Belt. You are then taken to the Navigation screen. If you need to, cancel out of this screen and go heal the Party on the Magical Floor Tile. Once you're all set to go, select the Air Castle as your destination, and get ready for a long, demanding dungeon: -------------- The Air Castle -------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: Spector, DimensWorm, FrostSaber, Stonehead, Bladeright - Upper Floors ChaosSorcr - Basement Levels Items found in this dungeon: 1000 Mesata, 2000 Mesata, 4000 Mesata, 8000 Mesata, Trimate x2, Swift-Helm, GenocyClaw, Escapipe, Sol-Dew - Upper Floors Moon-Dew, Star-Dew - Basement Levels The Bosses of this dungeon are: Xe-A-Thoul, the trio of Eclipse Torch Thieves (Upper Floors) Lassic, now a Lich under the control of Dark Force (Basement Levels) Suggested Level: Wren 30, Chaz 33, Rika 35, Rune 31, Kyra 29 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 32, Chaz 36, Rika 38, Rune 34, Kyra 32 As soon as you disembark from the Landale, Wren notes that someone has created a livable atmosphere around the Air Castle. Well, that's convenient. On the down side, it means that someone is most certainly waiting for you... At any rate, here we are - the infamous Air Castle. This is a long and involved dungeon, with a host of powerful foes to fight, and one deadly Boss to contend with. There's also a smattering of useful goodies, so let's start exploring. As I've said about twenty times now, this place is by far the toughest dungeon yet. It's long, it's confusing, and its winding paths and hallways ensure that you'll get PLENTY of random battles. On the bright side, there's one of those Magic Healing Circles about halfway through this maze-like castle. Still, if you find yourself running too low on useful Skills or TP, use Hinas to return to the Landale. From there, fly back to either the Tyler or Nurvus Spaceports, and use the Magic Circles there to heal up. This is not a place to try to push your characters too hard in, especially considering that it's basically two, two, two dungeons in one: the Upper Floors, where you must find and defeat the Wizards who stole the Eclipse Torch; and the Basement Levels, where Lassic lurks. General Combat strategies: The Air Castle is home to a host of new foes. For obvious reasons, many of them are of the Undead/Unholy type. Ironically enough, you're forced to go through one of the dungeons that Raja would be most helpful in - without him. Sigh. Anyway, you will encounter the following beasties within the Air Castle's Upper Floors: Spectors are pretty nasty. While they don't have a lot of HP, they are fast, resistant to most Magic (to the point that most magic-based attacks only deal 1 damage to them), and they can slay a character outright with DeathSpell. They ALSO have the dreaded Corrosion ability, which can deal 75-80 damage to Wren and 35-55 to everyone else. Ouch. Finally, they can use EvilEye to Paralyze a Party member - not as deadly as its other two attacks, but irritating nontheless. So, I recommend using physical attacks and Double Damage abilities to kill them expediently. Skills like Disrupt and Airslash can also end the battle in short order. Be sure to have Kyra attack - her Slashers can do a number on these things, as well. Dimens(ional)Worms are polar opposites of the Spectors. The only take 1 damage from most physical attacks - and some forms of magic, as well, cheifly Fire, Ice, and Wind. The most dangerous thing a Worm can do is cast Gra - but since it only really hurts Wren, even that's no big deal. The Worms only have 4 HP, so you COULD wear them down with enough physical attacks - but I know a dirty little secret. One casting of Gra (NOT GiGra or NaGra, just Gra) will kill them all, every time. So just have everyone else defend while Rune (or Kyra) shreds the Worms with Gra. As a side note, Rika can bypass the Worms' insane defense if she has the Silvr-Tusk equipped, which means she'll deal 250+ damage and kill one of them outright. This would also make Disrupt another method of killing entire groups. The Silvr-Tusk is your friend. FrostSabers are the latest incarnation of the ShadwSaber. They can cast Deban on themselves, which makes them harder to kill with physical attacks. However, Deban is the least of your worries: FrostSabers pack a mean GiWat, and a NASTY AirSlash. Fortunately, their physical attack is nothing special, they don't use AirSlash very often, and they only have about 300 HP. My advice? Use NaFoi, Hewn, GiZan, etc. if they put up Deban; otherwise, just beat on them with your weapons and Double Damage attacks. If you encounter more than two at a time, it's not a bad idea to toss a Disrupt or an AirSlash of your own into the mix: you really don't want to be on the recieving end of 3 or 4 AirSlashes in a single round. Stoneheads are rather imposing creatures. They possess a goodly amount of HP, and have powerful physical attacks. They can also use Firebreath and take vastly reduced damage from Fire-based attacks. I recommend Double Damage and Instant Death attacks, both of which will allow you to kill Stoneheads before they can get too many hits in on the Party. Bladerights are the new and improved form of the Ripper. Their Firebreath deals some pretty good damage, but they have only moderate HP and very meager defenses. You should be able to off these things with just physical attacks, although their respectable speed will allow them to land the occasional blow. Once you defeat the Torch-grabbing Wizards, you will be able to access the Air Castle's dungeons. You will find a new playmate down here, a close friend of Lassic in fact, who would like nothing better than to end your quest forever: ChaosSorc(ero)r... ahh, it's our old buddy, the Saboteur! He hasn't learned any new tricks since you fought him as a "boss" aboard the space shuttle. They still have 500 plus HP and a host of Rune-like Skills and spells... but a barrage of Double Damage attacks will defeat them handily. In addition, they are (sometimes) susceptable to Instant Death attacks, so that might be worth a try, as well. Oh, and they drop the occasional Moon-Dew, as well. Don't shy away from killing as many of these guys as you can, as they give good XP (and items) and honestly aren't all that hard to kill. Your characters should reach these Levels and learn the following abilities: At Level 32, Rune will learn the Negatis Skill. This beastly thing summons a portal to a negative plane; anything that gets sucked into this portal is instantly anhiliated. That's my dramatic way of saying that this is Diem on steroids - it tries to kill EVERYTHING at once, instead of just one foe. This is an incredible Skill to use when you NEED to end a battle - NOW. Keep in mind, however, that it won't work on Mechs. At Level 30, Kyra will learn the GiGra Tech. That's all fine and dandy, but if you're using dual Slashers, Kyra will deal as much damage (or more) with those as she will with this Tech. Save your TP and just attack. At Level 35, Chaz will learn the Explode Skill. This is Chaz' Instant Death Skill, but it's done in such a bizarre manner: Chaz morphs into a ball of flame and "body slams" his foe, killing it instantly. It's like a Reverse FloatMine attack crossed with Fleali: just... really... weird. Anyway, Explode works on both Biomonsters and Mechs, but it has a very limited number of "charges", so it's best to save it for something that's putting the hurt on you. And then, at Level 36, Chaz will learn the NaRes Tech. Oh yes. You can never have too many characters with NaRes. Try to save Chaz' NaRes for emergencies or Bosses, however - he's generally better off spending his TP on the -Thu and -Zan Techs he has at his disposal. Walkthrough ----------- 1st Floor - Center (1000 Mesata, Trimate) Once you have control of the Party, head straight N and enter the archway. There's nothing to the W or E. Head N in this next tiny room and pass under another arch. In this third room (with the freaky glowing floor), continue heading N. You'll come upon an archway - but it's being blocked by a barrier that's being created by the foul sorcerers who stole the Eclipse Torch. You'll have to defeat them all before you can enter this section of the castle... Well, that leaves us with 2 choices: W or E. The W passage quickly dead-ends, so let's head E instead: From the archway, follow the hallway as it goes N, then E, then S. Ignore the E side hall for now, and continue S into a small room. In this room is a chest containing 1000 Mesata. What? Sigh. Okay, now go back N and take that E hall, following it as it jogs a bit S, and finally going N through the archway that presents itself. After a small jog to the W, you'll go through another arch, and you'll find yourself in a small courtyard. Go due N and you'll find a doorway that will take us back inside. You'll be in a small room, with an exit to the N. Once outside the doorway, ignore the N hallway and instead turn and go E, following the hall as it turns S and ends in a chest. Open the chest and take the Trimate out of it, then go back and take that N passage. Follow the hall as it turns E and then back S, and you'll come across an ascending staircase. Take it up to the... 2nd Floor - East to West (2000 Mesata, Trimate, 4000 Mesata) From the stairs, follow the hall N, then W, then back S. You'll go through an archway that will take you out onto a balcony of sorts. Walk a few steps E, then turn and go S until you come to an opening that takes us back inside. This new area is a bit weird, so bear with me. Go S for now, ignoring the descending stairs: they lead only to a small room with nothing in it, cut off from the rest of the floor by one of those weird glowing pits. Right, so, keep on walking S, past the stairs, until you come to a chest containing a whopping 2000 Mesata. Whoo. Return from whence you came, and take the passage to the W that leads S. After a long-ish walk, you'll pass under another doorway, and you'll find yourself outdoors once more. Once out on the balcony, head S and then W, until you come an entranceway leading back inside. You'll find yourself to the E of the Castle's entryway. Follow the hallway as it twists and turns all over the place. Eventually you will reach the North-central area of the floor, and you'll see a doorway leading outside: ignore it. It leads to a tiny dead-end balcony. Continue walking W, and snag the Trimate from the Chest in the room that you're passing through. Take the West-most hall and head S. The hallway will wind a bit, and then you'll find a doorway that leads to a balcony. Once outside, head W for a short while until you find an archway. Enter it, and go N. You'll come to a small room which presents you with three choices: an archway to the N, a descending staircase to the W, and a small room to the S. Enter the small Southern room and open the chest there for 4,000 Mesata. Now we can take those stairs back down to... 1st Floor - West (Swift-Helm) The first thing to do once you arrive in this section is to head S. Ignore the E hallway: the only thing it leads to a dead end courtyard. Just keep walking S until you're forced to turn E. Hug the S wall and go through the archway that will present itself. In this small room is a Chest containing the Swift-Helm. This little beauty will increase Chaz Defense AND Agility. Six more Agility is better than that measly two Mental that the Silv-Helm give you, so don the Swift-Helm and, uh, well, that's it for this little area, actually. Retrace your steps and ascend back on up to... 2nd Floor - West continued (GenocyClaw) Now to take the third and final exit from this room: the archway to the N. You'll find yourself on another narrow balcony: follow it N, and when it widens out a bit, go E. You'll see a doorway. Enter it, and you'll find yourself in a small room. Open the Chest sitting in the room's Eastern edge for the GenocyClaw. Oh yeah! The GenocideClaw should be put on Rika the INSTANT you get it: with it equipped, Rika's attacks will randomly kill her foes outright. That's right, Rika will now Insta-kill things with alarming frequency, although there are a few creatures that are immune to this effect. Oh, just be sure to swap out a Laco-Claw and NOT the Silvr-Tusk when you're equipping Rika. Now that Rika is a killing machine (ba bum DUM), leave this stuffy little room and continue walking N. Enter the archway you come across, and just keep on going N. Follow the hallway W and then back S, and you'll run across a set of stairs that lead us down to... 1st Floor - Northwest (Escapipe) Okay. Walk a few steps N, then follow the hallway E and S. The hall will branch into two South-running hallways, one on the W of the divider, and one E. Take the W hall, through an arch into a small room. There's an Escapipe in the Chest at the end of the hall, so grab that and backtrack to the E hall. Keep heading S, and sure enough, there's an archway leading out into another courtyard area, which just so happens to be the last major part of the Air Castle, the... 1st Floor - North Central area, part 1 (No items) Go SE, hugging the wall to the S, until you come to an archway. Enter it, and... it's your salvation! There's a Magical Healing Circle in the center of this small room. Heal up and walk through the arch in the S wall of this refill room. You'll be standing BEHIND the rascals who stole the Eclipse Torch. What does this mean? Well, once you find and defeat them (we're getting to that), you can walk STRAIGHT THROUGH THE ENTIRE DAMN CASTLE! ARGH! YOU SADISTIC PROGRAMMERS!! Right, moving on. Retrace your steps N and back out into the courtyard. Keep walking N and you'll come upon (yeah, you guessed it) an archway leading back indoors. In this new indoor area, walk a few paces N. There's another trio of Illusionary Barrier-making Rascals barring entrance to what can only be a very important area of the castle. You'll have to, for now, detour to the W. Follow the passage N, through an archway, and then E. When the path branches N, head that way, for continuing E leads only to a long and annoying dead end. After a short walk, the path will split, and you must choose to go either NW or NE. Since the NE path is just a little dead end, go NW, up the stairs and through the archway, onto a balcony. Follow this S, and you'll come across a set of stairs leading down. There's also a path leading E, but it's only a dead end. Hit them stairs, and you'll be in the... 1st Floor - North Central area, part 2 (8,000 Mesata) Follow this narrow hallway to the N. You'll soon come across a set of stairs leading up, but for now, walk past them. At the N end of the hall is a Chest containing 8000 Mesata. Because, you know, we're just HURTING for cash at this point. Yeah, well, go back S and take them there stairs back to... 1st Floor - North Central area, part 3 (Sol-Dew, Boss: Xe-A-Thoul) Well, now you're on a raised area that surrounds the room we were just in not so long ago. Lovely. Walk S, then E, and when the path branches into N and E hallways, go N. You'll come to a descending staircase. Take it down, and you'll be in a cellar-type area. You can go either N or S, but the N hallway leads to a dead end, while the S hallway leads to a chest containing some Sol-Dew. Needless to say, you should go S, grab the Dew, and head back upstairs. Retrace your steps to that E-running hall we bypassed earlier, and head on down it. After a short walk, you'll see an arch to the N. Pass under it and take the ascending stairs you find there. Oh boy. Another balcony. Walk due W and enter the archway you come across. There are no less than three dead-end areas to the N, the E, and the far W, so don't bother exploring. Just walk back inside. Well, this is it. The Torch Thieves are in the Northern part of this room, guarding another archway. Before you talk to them (which will initiate a fight), make sure you restore everyone's HP to full. Once you're prepped, speak to any of the three Thieves. They laugh like good little minions and say that they it was good of all of you to come, but they really only want to kill and mutilate Lutz. Well, good for them, but they're not going to do anything but die at your hand. Xe-A-Thoul (1550 HP each) Watch out for ThunderBlast! This Combo attack, done by all 3 Thouls, will deal rougly 75-100 damage to EVERY Party member (except for Rune, who only takes 25% of what everyone else does. A high Mental score sure comes in handy, no?). Ow, ow, ow! If the Thouls use this on you (and they will, every round, until you kill one), do NOT forget to have Rika cast GiSar the next round, unless you want to start losing people. If you kill one or two Thouls, but not all three, the remaining Thouls will no longer be able to use ThunderBlast, and will fall back on regular attacks, GiWat, and GiZan. You can handle that easily, as none of those attacks are anywhere near as powerful as ThunderBlast, so just concentrate on offing the remaining Thouls. The biggest thing that will get you in trouble in this battle is if they manage to cast ThunderBlast BEFORE Wren puts the Barrier up, and then AGAIN before Rika can cast GiSar the next round. Yes, this can happen, and if it does, you better hope that Wren and Rune can kill the Thouls before they bite it. You can lose this battle if you get unlucky, so BE PREPARED, and if you're really worried, Hinas out and save before returning and attempting this battle. Here's what to do in order to make this fight as short as possible - because you do NOT want to get into a lenghty brawl with these guys: Round 1: Chaz uses AirSlash. Wren uses Barrier. Rika uses Disrupt. Rune uses Efess. Kyra should use Hewn, as it does 130 damage to each Thoul (Kyra's attacks and GiGra only deal 100 damage to each Thoul). Round 2: Chaz uses AirSlash. Wren uses BurstRoc. Rika casts GiSar to counter the damage done by ThunderBlast. Rune uses Efess. Kyra uses Hewn. Round 3: Chaz uses AirSlash. Wren uses Recover or attacks with his PulseVlcn, depending on how hurt he is. Rika casts GiSar to counter the damage done by ThunderBlast. Rune uses Efess. Kyra uses Hewn. Alternatively, you can have Rika use Disrupt every round, and have Kyra use her Medice Skill - or Star-Dews - to heal the Party. This is a bit risky, however, since Kyra is generally slower than Rika, and thus she might not get the Medice/Star-Dew off before your Party is forced to eat another ThunderBlast. Your call, but I still recommend using Rika to heal. That should do it. ThunderBlast is nasty, yes, but as long as you counter it with Barrier and shots of GiSar while Rune and Chaz and Wren use their most powerful Attack Everything abilities, you should be able to win this fight in 2 1/2 rounds. If this battle goes into a 4th round, you're either a) hoarding your best attacks for no good reason (free healing in the center of the castle, remember?) or b) you need some more Levels - BADLY. Your average Party Level should be at least 33 by now, and if it isn't, Lassic is going to have a field day kicking your under-Leveled asses to the afterlife and back. Strangely enough, there is no cut-scene or inter-Party conversation after the Three Thouls are defeated. There is, however, another Magical Healing Circle just a hop, skip, and a jump to the N. Use it to refresh your wounded selves, and then it's time to backtrack. Where are we going? The second opening that the Thoul Illusions were blocking off (see 1st Floor - North Central area, part 1, where you have to detour around them to the West), that's where. The fastest way to get there is to use an Escapipe or Hinas to go back to the beginning of the Air Castle, and hold up on the controller until you get there. I'm not kidding. If you walk straight N from your starting point after Hinas-ing long enough, you'll walk right through the archway in question. Once inside this well-guarded room, you'll see another set of descending stairs. Take them down to... Air Castle, Floor B1F East (No items) Wow. A dungeon within a dungeon. I TOLD you this place was your biggest challenge yet! Lassic awaits, so let's get moving... From the stairs... oohhhh! Parralax scrolling on the Genesis! Very nice! What? The walkthrough? Right, sorry, got distracted. Um... okay, from the stairs, walk S and you'll almost immediately come across a side passage leading E. Now, you can continue S or go E, it matters not. They are simply two halves of the same looping hallway that "ends" in a descending staircase. Pick a path, step on the stairs, and fly down to... Floor B2F East (No items) Once again, a simple loop "ending" in a descending staircase. The fastest route: walk E, turn N, follow W, take the passage S to the stairs that will take you down to... Floor B3F East (Moon-Dew) This looks like another loop at first, but it's not. From the stairs, walk S until you come to an E/W T. Go E, and follow the path when it turns N. At the end of the hall you'll come upon a chest containing a Moon-Dew. Return to the T and head E this time. Follow along as the hallway turns N, then jogs E and ends in a descending staircase that will take us down to... Floor B4F East (no items) From the stairs, head S, then turn E. You'll come across a side passage heading N; take it. The E passage simply continues on to a dead end. At the end of the N side passage is a staircase that descends to... Floor B5F (Star-Dew) Once you reach this, the bottom floor, follow the passage as winds around: first W, then S, then back E, then N. Once you start going N, there will be a chest to your right; open it for a Star-Dew. Continue N, and the passage will turn W, then S, then W again, then N, then E, and finally S to an ascending staircase that takes us to... Floor B4F West (No items) Head S to an E/W T, and go E. The W hallway is nothing but a dirty, deceitful dead end. Once on an Easterly track, follow along as the hall turns N, then E, and finally N again, ending in an ascending staircase that takes us up to... Floor B3F West (No items) Running out of ideas, guys? Head S until the passage turns W, and follow it. Take the side passage N - if you continue W, you'll just find yourself in yet another dead end. Now take those stairs up to... Floor B2F West (No items) Another loop-de-loop. For best results, head N to the E/W T and go W, then S, and take the W side passage to the stairs that lead up to... Floor B1F West (EclpsTorch, Lassic) This level tries to be confusing but fails utterly. No items here (only another dead end), so just do the following: head S from the stairs to an E/W T. Go E, turn N, and walk N 'till you can't no 'mo. There's an ominous black doorway here, but don't be afraid... yet. Enter it, and you'll be in a small room. Go E then N, to another doorway flanked by two huge pillars. You can guess what that means. Yep. This is it: the showdown with Lassic. Heal yourself up to FULL HP, take a few deep breaths, and step through the doorway... Walk N up the narrow walkway, until you come upon a Chest sitting in the middle of a large platform. Once you open that Chest, Lassic is sure to show himself, so BE SURE YOU'RE READY. The chest contains, of course, the EclpsTorch. Wait... no, it doesn't! Chaz exclaims that the Torch is a fake, and it morphs into a Spector that wastes no time in attacking you! Eh, it's only a Spector. You've killed about 337,000 of these by now, so just snuff this one with a DblSlash or something and be done with it. Once the Spector is no more, Lassic appears behind you, at the edge of the platform! He "greets" Lutz, and launches into a rather lenghty speil about how he's going to kill you all and turn you into restless spirits that can never leave his haunted castle, yadda yadda. And then, he attacks..! Boss: Lich Lassic, slave of Dark Force (6,400 [!!!] HP) Oh boy, here we go. If you've played Phantasy Star, you know that Lassic is no pushover, and 2,000 years of Lich-dom haven't made him any weaker - in fact, Lassic now knows a whole host of Dark Magics that will test your Party to their limits. Lassic is tough. He does a crapload of damage. He has a LOT of HP. He's probably the toughest Boss in the game. But you can still beat him if you keep a few things in mind: He's now Undead AND Unholy. Yow know what that means: things like RayBlade, Efess, and the Silvr-Tusk will all do double damage to him. I don't really talk about Combination Attacks much in the Walkthrough proper (they have their own section in the appendices), but this one will make the fight much, much easier: have Chaz use CrossCut, and have Rune use Efess. If you're lucky, they will combine this into Grand Cross, which will deal upwards of 750 damage to Lassic. That'll teach him to come back from the dead! ALL of Lassic's attacks are Magical in nature. Put up a Barrier with Wren in the first round, or you're toast. A Barrier will at least cut the damage Lassic deals down to something semi-reasonable. SaNer is key. Have Rika use it immediately - you NEED to be faster than Lassic, or you're gonna have one hell of a time beating him without suffering heavy losses and using up your precious supply of Dews. Don't be afraid to "double up" on your healing: have Rika use GiSar, while Kyra uses Medice, and in an emergency, have Rune or Chaz use a Star-Dew as well. Sure, you might "waste" some healing, but it's better to "waste" a Medice or a GiSar than it is to watch as Lassic nails your badly injured Party with AnotherGate before you're ready for it. Speaking of Star-, Moon-, and Sol-Dew, DON'T BE LIKE ME AND FORGET YOU HAVE THEM. If someone dies, screw Rever, USE A Sol-Dew ON THEM. Taking a beating? Have Chaz or Wren or Rune use a Star-Dew to supplement Rika and Krya's healing abilities. This is a MAJOR BOSS BATTLE - you have nothing to gain my hoarding items or saving your TP or Skill charges. Go all out or you'll be loading up your last save. Here is, in a final effort to put the fear of darkness in your heart, a list of all the overpowered attacks that Lassic has at his disposal: Lassic's most dangerous attack is the incredibly damaging AnotherGate. This outrageous magic attack will deal 125 (Rune) to 225 (Wren) damage to the entire Party, or about 2/3 that with Barrier up. Not nice, not nice at all. If he uses this, your next round will have to be a "AnotherGate Recovery Round" (see below) - it hurts THAT much. Be ready to use GiSar, Medice, and possibly a Star-Dew or two. Lassic can also hearken back to 2,000 years ago and cast, uh, "Thndhalbrt". Yeah, Thndhalbrt. Thunderbolt mispelled horribly? Thunder Halberd Bolt? In any case, it hurts. Not as much as AnotherGate, but close: with Barrier up, it will do between 80 (Rune) and 210 (Wren) to the Party. Fortunately, most of your Party members only take around 100 damage, so a GiSar from Rika next turn will erase most of the damage. After you deal approximately 5,000 damage to Lassic, he will use Reinforce to up all his stats - making his attacks even stronger! As crazy as that sounds, it also means that he's almost dead - so keep on dishing out the damage, he can't take much more. After Lassic uses Reinforce, he starts using Possession. This can be good or bad - all it does is put a Party member to sleep. The good? You can lay off the healing next round. The bad? If he puts Rika and/or Kyra to sleep, and they don't wake soon, you could be in trouble. My advice is to have Rune cast Arows to awaken any sleepers, just to be on the safe side. Now, things will be a bit easier if you're at least at the recommended Level, as your characters will have enough HP and Magic Defense to take a hit or two from Lassic's arsenal. I suggest the following strategy: Round 1: Chaz uses RayBlade. Wren uses Barrier. Rika casts SaNer. Rune uses Tandle. Kyra uses Flaeli. Round 2: Chaz uses RayBlade. Wren uses either Recover or Flare, depending on his HP. Rika casts Shift on Chaz, or casts GiSar (more likely). Rune uses Tandle. Kyra uses Flaeli, or Medice if someone's hurt badly. Round 3: Chaz uses RayBlade. Wren uses either Recover or Flare. Rika casts Shift on Chaz (or herself, if she's cast in on Chaz already) or casts GiSar. Rune uses Tandle. Kyra uses Flaeli or Medice. Rounds 4+: Chaz uses CrossCut. Wren uses either Recover or Flare. Rika uses DblSlash, casts Shift on Chaz or herself, or casts GiSar. Rune uses Efess (hopefully producing the Grand Cross Combination Attack with Chaz). Kyra uses Flaeli or Medice. Once you run out of Effess and Tandle "charges" with Rune, have him switch back to NaGra, NaWat, or NaFoi. If Chaz runs out of both RayBlade and CrossCut charges, have him switch to NaThu, and then to attacks if he runs out of TP. Have Rika use a Shift-enhanced DblSlash in any round where she's not casting Sar or GiSar or using a Star-Dew (which may never happen, honestly). AnotherGate Recovery Round: Do the following in EVERY round that succeeds one of Lassic's AnotherGate attacks: Chaz uses a Star-Dew (if Lassic opens with AnotherGate and your Barrier wasn't up yet), otherwise have him revive a dead Party member with a Sol-Dew. He can attack as normal if you're not hurt that badly. Rika always casts Sar or GiSar. If she runs out of TP, have her use a Star-Dew instead. Rune can use a Dew if you're near death, but you should just have him attack as normal if at all possible - just don't use Efess if Chaz is using items! Wren will most likely need to Recover, but if you have Kyra use Medice on him, he can use Flare instead. Kyra should use Medice on whoever has the least HP remaining; her attacks all suck against Lassic anyway. Not much else to say. As long as you heal too much rather than just enough to scrape by, you should be able to out-last Lassic. Just keep in mind that with almost 7,500 HP, Lassic can survive no less than 7 or 8 "Full Damage" rounds of combat. Couple this with the fact that you neeed to heal extensively, and you're looking at a battle that can drag on for a dozen rounds or more! At any rate, once Lassic has been defeated, he uses the old cliche: "you may have gotten me, but you'll never get the Eclipse Torch!" Fortunately, Rika leaps forth and snatches the Torch from Lassic's rotting grasp. As Lassic's undead body begins to disentigrate, he claims that he will be "reborn" over and over, to plague the future of Algo, for as long as "He" exists. And, as Lassic goes, so does the Air Castle. The Party makes it back to the Landale and takes off just as the Air Castle goes nova. As the Party weathers the shock wave caused by the massive explosion, Rune talks about how pathetic Lassic was, succumbing like he did to the lure of power and becoming nothing more than a puppet of Dark Force. Chaz wants to know who the "He" that Lassic mentioned is. Rika theorizes that "He" must be Dark Force... but we defeated Dark Force. Didn't we? The game then cuts to the Gumbious Temple, where the head priest thanks them profusely for retrieving the Eclipse Torch, and says he will gladly give it to those with the strength to use it to lead the people of Algo from the dark road they are on. Chaz suggests that the Party return to the Forest of Carniverous Trees with the Eclipse Torch. Good idea there, Chaz. It's time to heal up (either at the Inn in Jut or at the Magic Circles in Tyler Spaceport) and make tracks... ------------------------- To the Carniverous Forest ------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 32, Chaz 36, Rika 38, Rune 34, Kyra 32 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 33, Chaz 36, Rika 39, Rune 34, Kyra 32 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Well, in case you forgot how to get to the Forest, here's a refresher: Exit Meese, and head East. You'll pass a bunch of trees and an Ice Wall before coming to a mountain range stretching North and South. Turn and head North, through a narrow pass in the mountains. You'll see some sickly brown vine-like things growing in large clusters, blocking the pass. Walk (or drive) into them. Chances are you'll go up a Level or two, either from the XP you got from Lassic, or from fighting your way to the Forest. That's why, despite the short trip, I show a few Party members gaining a Level. At any rate, once you reach the Carnivorous Trees, the game will show a mini-cutscene in which Chaz holds aloft the Eclipse Torch, and the Trees dissolve into nothingness. Now, walk North a short distance, and you'll see... ------------------------------- Garubrk Tw (The Garuberk Tower) ------------------------------- Monsters found in this dungeon: FrostSaber, ChaosSorc(ere)r, D-Elm-Lars, Ha(c)kenLeft, Ghoul, Radhin, King Saber, DarkMaraud(er) Items found in this dungeon: Trimate x2, Pow-Shield, MoonSlashr, Star-Dew x2, Moon-Dew, Escapipe Suggested Level: Wren 33, Chaz 36, Rika 39, Rune 34, Kyra 32 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 36, Chaz 39, Rika 42, Rune 36, Kyra 35 The Boss of this Dungeon is: a spoiler. I'll tell you what it is when you get there. I'm so evil. Well, after a LOT of sidetracking, we're finally here: the enigmatic Garuberk Tower. Is the tower truly the root of all Dezolis' recent troubles? Can Chaz and the others find a way to topple the tower? And even if they do, will the tower's fall end the plague, thus saving Raja and the others? Those are all questions that we are here to answer, so let's get started. Unfortunately, the Garuberk Tower is a bit like the Upper Levels of the Air Castle: annoying and maze-like, complete with "switches" than open up new passages. Basically, be prepared to do a lot of wandering around, backtracking, and fighting. On the plus side, there's a shiny new Slasher for Kyra and some Dews to be had if you're diligent and search out all the tower's chests. Once again, if you're not at the recommended Level, you may well find yourself running out of Skills or TP by the time you reach the Boss. I will again suggest that if you find yourself in such a situation, it is better to leave, heal up, and come back rather than try and push your Party too far. Subsequent trips through the tower are much shorter than the initial one, since the "puzzles" here don't reset, even if you leave. General Combat strategies: More friendly foes. Once again, the majority of the critters you come across fall into that Undead/Unholy category. Remember to use Efess and Rika's physical/Double Damage attacks (with the Silvr-Tusk, of course) for quick kills if you think you might be in trouble, but do try to save Chaz' "charges" of RayBlade for the Boss. Finally, Eliminat is your friend in this place. It can (and will) slay HakenLefts, Radhins, King Sabers, ChaosSorcrs, DarkMarauders, AND D-Elm-Lars. Use it with wild abondon; Rika should have close to 15 "charges" of it by this point. Don't forget about Rune's Diem and Negatis Skills, either: they're just as effective as Eliminat. At any rate, expect to see the following monsters... a lot: FrostSabers and ChaosSorcrs both return for a repeat performance, and even our good buddy D-Elm-Lars is back for an encore. See my above description of these fiends in the Air Castle's Combat strategies (or the ClimCenter Combat strategies for D-Elm-Lars) if you need a refresher course in Saber or "Sorcr" ownage. The only thing to watch out for here is the larger groups that these old foes now appear in. Don't be afraid to use multiple "hits everything" attacks in a single round if you get large groups of ChaosSorcrs or D-Elm-Lars. Ha(c)kenLefts are yet another incarnation of the Ripper. Nothing new here, they still have a nasty physical attack and Acidbreath, and more HP than ever. In addition, these guys have enough HP to survive a few attacks, enough agility that your Party won't always attack first, AMD they can dodge regular attacks. Yee-ouch. Don't shy away from using some of Chaz and Rika's (now) numerous "charges" of AirSlash or Disrupt; using either of those skills will help make your battles with these things all the shorter. You do get some very respectable XP for your troubles, too. Ghouls, another Phantasy Star "throwback" monster, are a stronger, meaner version of the Zombies you encountered in Reshel. They possess the bizarre "bad smell" attack, which tries to put your whole Party to sleep, and they also have a hard-hitting physical attack. However, Ghouls are relatively slow and possess very low defense and not very many HP. Physical attacks are more than enough to fell these foul things, so don't waste too many resources fighting them. Radhins are Juza look-alikes with attitude. They are the dungeon's token spellcaster foe, and as such using Wren's Barrier when fighting these is a GOOD idea. Their spell, er, Tech/Skill list includes SaNer, DeBan, Shift, Seals, GiSar, and ForceFlash. That's a fairly dangerous combination of abilities, so it's in your best interests to use copious amounts of Double Damage and/or Attack All Skills to kill them quickly. Barrier will take the edge off of their ForceFlash attacks, so feel free to put one up at the beginning of the fight - Wren has a few "charges" to spare by now. King Sabers are bronze-toned Centaurs. These little buggers will be a thorn in your side, much like the aforementioned Centaurs that infested the Ladea Tower were. They have 2 attacks: Ray Spear and an almost-always-critical physical attack. Both are nasty if you don't have Deban up, so have Rika cast that in the first round of combat, and then beat the Kings down with Double Damage attacks, Instant Death attacks (although they only work once in a while), and heaping helpings of Flaeli, NaFoi, and NaWat. If you're lucky, a King Saber may drop a GenocyClaw, which is quite nice if you somehow missed the one in the Air Castle. Do resist the temptation to double the GenocyClaws up, however, as the SilvrTusk's extra damage vs. undead is superior to the tiny extra chance for an instant kill that a pair of Genocy's will give you. DarkMaraud(er)s are another original Phantasy Star foe. If you've played it, you might remember them as being pretty nasty, a trait they've maintained over the passing millenia. They do have one big weakness: they only attack physically, and thus, a shot of Deban or Warla will all but nullify their attacks. Once you've done that, you can just use regular attacks to polish the DarkMarauders off, thus saving your resources for tougher battles. The Marauders CAN cast Shift (although they don't do so often), which makes them a bit more deadly, but not by much, to be honest. Lastly, they resist most types of elemental damage, so stick to physical and Double Damage attacks as much as you can. Your characters should reach these Levels and learn the following abilities: At Level 33, Kyra will learn the NaFoi Technique. You know what NaFoi can do, but don't expect Kyra's NaFoi to be quite as potent as Rune's. At Level 37, Chaz will learn the NaZan Technique. This is really handy to have, as it gives you an alternative to AirSlash when you find yourself running low on AirSlash "charges". It also gives you a productive way to spend Chaz' TP. At Level 35, Rune will learn the Legion Skill. Legion is Rune's penultimate Skill: it works much like Efess, but it deals equal damage (300 or more) to ALL foes, not just undead/unholy ones. It seems to be non-elemental, which is good in that nothing resists it, but bad in that nothing takes extra damage from it. Still a nice Skill to have around for when you've been ambushed, are a hurtin' unit, and you need to kill everything - NOW. At Level 40, Rika will learn the NaSar Technique. The ultimate healing spell, NaSar will restore hundreds of HP to every member of the Party, for a mere 36 (!) TP. I recommend using this spell in combat only, and even then you should only cast it after a Boss nails you with something particularly life- threatening. You'll find Rika TP-less in Seattle in no time at all if you fail to heed my advice. At Level 35, Kyra will learn the Bindwa Skill. Bindwa will attempt to BIND all of your foes, thus rendering them paralyzed. That's all fine and dandy, but 1) paralysis isn't all THAT great except for when you use it on a foe that you can't kill in a single round (of which there really aren't all that many) and 2) it has so few "charges" that you probably won't have any left for when you really need them. Oh well, it technically makes Kyra more versatile. At Level 36, Kyra will learn the NaRes Technique. I'm not going to elaborate, by now you should know how handy NaRes is. The only thing I'll say is that Kyra really shouldn't be wasting her TP on NaRes if she still has "charges" of Medice to use instead. Ok, that pretty much does it. Kyra now has Bindwa, NaFoi, and NaSar; Chaz has NaZan; Rune has Legeon; and Rika has NaSar. There are no more Skills/Techniques that your characters will learn BY LEVELING, so this section will not appear in any of the subsequent dungeons. Walkthrough: ------------ 1st Floor (No items) Not much to see here. Just head in a Northerly direction until you see a strange pink and green cylinder nestled in the North wall. The cylinder is this dungeon's version of an elevator, so walk up and "search" it. The "doors" will open. Step inside and travel on up to the... 2nd Floor (Trimate, Pow-Shield) This tower is awfully organic looking, isn't it? I LOVE what the interior decorator did: the blue slime compliments the fleshy walls SO well. When you emerge from the elevator, there will be many directions in which you can travel. They are ALL dead ends, except for one: the NE passage. Go as far N as you can, then turn to the W. You'll come to a room with an Eyeball sitting on its W end, and a slimy chest on its N end. Go N and open the chest for a Trimate, then walk SW and "search" the Eyeball. Eyeballs are switches; this is a puzzle dungeon! Oh joy! When you examine the switch, the game makes its patented Organic sound effect, and the tower quivers, and an opening appears to the E. Walk due E from the Eyeball and through what used to be a section of wall. When you can't go E no more, turn and go SE. You'll come to an intersection, with passages S and SE. Continue SE for now, and at the end of this hallway you'll find a chest containing a Pow-Shield. Another worthless shield to completely ignore. Backtrack to that S side-passage you passed by before, and take it. Continuing past the elevator is a fruitless endeavor that leads only to a dead end, so stop where you are and ascend to the... 3rd Floor (Trimate) Ooh, pretty green pulsing vein things! This tower gets more beautiful every floor! From the elevator, head S until you come to an E/W T. For now, walk a few steps W, then turn and head SE, until you come to a chest containing another Trimate. Yay. Return to the T and travel E this time, following the winding hallway E then N then E and finally S, when you'll come to another E/W T. To the W is a short dead end, so head E instead. You'll see an elevator, but you should ignore it for now and head S. Follow the hallway as it winds S, then E, then N again until it finally ends in a 2nd elevator. Go ahead and take this one on up to the... 4th Floor - Southeast (MoonSlashr) Just walk S through the maze of, uh, veins, and claim the MoonSlasher for Kyra from the chest nestled against the Southern wall of this small area. The MoonSlasher is a signifigant upgrade over the Laconian Slasher, so give this to Kyra immediately. Now, go back down the elevator and return to the... 3rd Floor - revisited Retrace your steps (go S then W then N) until you come to the original elevator that you blithely ignored earlier. Ignore it no longer and travel up to the... 4th Floor (Star-Dew) Once you emerge from the elevator, you may be tempted to go S, but you must resist: it's an empty dead end. Go E instead until you come to a NW/SE T. The SE path is (again) an empty dead end, so go NW instead. After only a few steps, you'll see a side passage/room thingie to the W. Detour in that direction, and you'll soon see a chest containing a Star-Dew. Grab it and continue heading NW. Follow this wide hallway as it winds NW, then W, then S, then W again, and finally N. At the end of all that there will be the elevator that takes us up to the... 5th Floor (Moon-Dew) Hit the ground running and go NE. After a short run you will come to a 4-way intersection. Let's go S first, since it leads to a very small room with a chest in it. Grab your Moon-Dew from the chest and return to the intersection. Ignore the E path (nothing but a little dead end area) and travel N. The passage will snake a bit, curving NW, then due W. You'll see an elevator, and a path leading S. Ignore the S passage: another dead end. Hop in the trusty elevator and ascend to the... 6th Floor (Escapipe) Follow the (only) passage as it winds NE, then N, then SW, and finally SE. At this point the path will split into 2 passages: SW and SE. The SW path is a very short dead end, so just continue going SE. The path will turn to go due E and then split again, this time into NE and E paths. Take the NE path: you'll soon come to a chest containing an Escapipe. Come on! Gimme a break! Sigh. Anyway, go back and take that E passage. Follow it when it goes turns to the N, and after a bit of a hike, you'll come across an elevator. Ignore it for now: , the area it leads to is just a big ol' dead end for now... you must travel further N and take THAT elevator down to the... 5th Floor - switch room (No items) Alrighty then. Walk five steps SW and press the Eyeball switch, then return to the elevator and go back up to the... 6th Floor - revisited Walk S and descend that original elevator that we bypassed earlier. You'll end up at the... 5th Floor - northeast (No items) You can go either E or W from the elevator, but since the E passage dead ends, you should head W instead. Follow the hallway when it curves N, and you'll soon come to an elevator that take us up to the... 6th Floor - northeast (No items) Now, if you haven't pressed that eyeball switch on the 5th Floor, this "floor" will be nothing but an empty room. However, once you press the switch, the W wall disappears. At any rate, if you've been following my walkthrough, the wall is gone and all you need to do is walk W from the elevator. After a few steps you will see the ascending elevator that you will be riding up to the... 7th Floor - (Star-Dew, Dark Force) Well, this is it: the top floor of the Garuberk Tower. There are 3 paths you can take: S, W, and N. The S path is a dead end. The W path ends in a chest containing a Star-Dew. And finally, the N path contains... Dark Force! That's right, he's back. This time, he's taken on a scorpion-like form. Well, it seems pretty obvious that you need to kill him to destroy the Garuberk Tower and put an end to Dezolis' troubles. So, when you see him, stop. Heal up to full HP. And when you think you're ready, approach him... The Party will have a brief conversation, talking about how this is indeed Dark Force (despite the fact that you destroyed Dark Force in Kuran), but Wren says that this Dark Force's configuration does not match that of the Dark Force you fought previously. Rika ponders if this means that there are two Dark Forces? Before anyone can answer that, however, Dark Force senses your presence and attacks... Boss: Dark Force (7500 HP) Don't let that HP counter fool you. The fact that Dark Force only has 100 more HP than Lassic doesn't mean that this will be over soon. You see, Dark Force has much, MUCH better defenses than poor Lassic did, although his attacks also don't deal quite as much damage. This means that the fight will be a long one, normally lasting a dozen rounds or more. Ugh. Fortunately, Dark Force still qualifies as being Unholy, so you can still rely on RayBlade, Efess, the SilvrTusk, et al, to dish out some good damage. So what can Dark Force do to you? Well, let's start with Sh(a)d(o)wBreath, which apparently is the latest version of the Black Energy Wave. This attack will deal 150-200 damage to a single character (less if they have good Magic Defense and/or you have a Barrier up). For this reason, it's a good idea to have Rika whip out the occasional Sar - and Kyra the occasional Medice - to keep your characters' HP up. Evil Eye is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it can put a Party member to sleep, which means you need to waste Rune's turn casting Arows. Bleah. On the other hand, it does no damage, so everyone ELSE can focus on dishing out the pain, or you can use the round to catch up on your healing. Dark Force normally opens with this attack, and pretty much never uses it again. Bizarre. Finally, LightShow(e)r is Dark Force's Big, Bad, Hit-The-Whole-Party attack. He shoots beams of electrical energy from its body, striking every Party member for 25 (Rune) to 225 (Wren) damage - assuming you have your Barrier up. It's REALLY gonna hurt otherwise. The sad thing is, Lassic did more damage than that with the weaker of his two attacks (Thundhalbrt), so you should be able to shrug this off by using Recover, Medice, and possibly Sar the next round. The battle should proceed something like this: Round 1 Wren uses Barrier. Chaz uses RayBlade. Rika casts SaNer. Rune casts NaWat. Kyra uses Warla. Rounds 2 and 3 Wren uses Flare (or Recover, if need be). Chaz uses RayBlade. Rika casts Shift on Chaz (round 2) and herself (round 3); if Dark Force uses LightShower, have her cast Sar instead. Rune casts NaWat. Kyra uses Medice on the most injured Party member (usually Wren). Rounds 4 and on Wren uses Flare (or Recover, if need be). Chaz switches to using CrossCut, and Rune begins using Efess, in the hopes of getting the Grand Cross Combination Attack. Rika alternates between healing whomever needs it and using DblSlash when she can. Kyra uses Medice on badly wounded Party members, tossing in the occasional NaFoi is the Party is in overall good shape (i.e. once in a blue moon). Alternate attacks: Chaz: once he runs out of RayBlade and CrossCut charges, switch to NaThu, and then finally to regular physical attacks (Shift-boosted, of course). Wren: none. Just keep Flarin' and Recoverin'. Rika: none. Alternate healing and DblSlashes. Rune: Once Efess is all gone, use the following (in order): Legeon, Tandle, NaWat, and finally Flaeli. Kyra: none. She'll most likely be using Medice in every single round anyway. That's about it. If you have Barrier up, the battle just becomes a matter of pumping your best attacks into Dark Force while countering his ShadowBreath with Medice and his LightShower with Sar. Unless Rika is VERY low on TP when you start this fight, it shouldn't be too difficult. And even if Rika DOES run out of TP, you should still at LEAST two or three Star-Dews, which you can use every second LightShower. If you're really worried about Dark Force offing someone with ShadowBreath, have Rika feed them a Trimate: you ought to be swimming in THOSE by now. After beating Dark Force and getting almost 10,000 exp PER PERSON from him, my Levels looked like this (although your milage will almost certainly vary): Wren: 36, Chaz: 40, Rika: 42, Rune: 37, Kyra: 36 The game then enters a cut-scene showing us the Garuberk Tower as it disentigrates in a burst of energy. "It's over," says the Party, heaving a collective sigh of relief. Rika notes that the neverending Blizzard has finally abated; the blue sky of Dezolis is beginning to peek through the cloud cover. Rune says that the Black Energy Wave is no more, and that the victims of the Plague should be on the road to recovery. Kyra gives a long winded speech about how great the Party is, and how she is going to return to Meese to help nurse the Plague victims back to full health. Kyra, Chaz, and Rune heckle each other in a good-natured manner for a while, and then Kyra departs. Just then, a huge (and I mean HUGE) explosion shakes the very earth. It came from the direction of Gumbious Temple...! At this point, the game gives you control of the Party (sans Kyra, of course). Standing around by where the Garuberk Tower used to be isn't going to do us any good; it's time to get moving. Obviously, you're supposed to go directly to the Gumbious Temple, but you really ought to warp back to Meese, first. --------------- Return to Meese --------------- New Item shop: Moon-Dew: 5000, Star-Dew 10000, Sol-Dew 20000 Now that the plague victims are all cured, that Item shop that was locked up is now again open for business. And what a shop it is! Here you can finally purchase those elusive Dews! I find that it's best to sell all your Moon-Dews and all but a few of your Trimates, and instead buy Star-Dews and Sol-Dews until you have 4 or 5 of each. The best part is, if you ever use up all your Dews in a Boss battle, you can come back here and replenish what you used. Sure, buying all these Dews can get expensive, but it's not like you have anything else to spend all those Mesata on at this point, do you? If you wish, you can take a trip up to the second floor of the Inn, where you'll find Krya tending to Raja. However, neither of them will join the Party at this point. Kyra gripes about Raja's awful jokes, and Raja will continue to be a big wussy boy and claim that he needs more bed rest. Yeah, Raja, it's so tough having that fever. Far worse than battle through labrynth-esque dungeons and battling the very root of all evil in the entire Algo solar system. You just stay in bed, you poor thing, you. (/sarcasm off) Finally, some of the townsfolk mention that since the Zombies have disappeared from Reshel, people are moving back there and rebuilding the town. If you want, you can warp back there now, and check out the final Dezolis town... -------------------------- The rebuilt Town of Reshel -------------------------- Inn: 130 Mesata per person (520 Mesata) Item shop: Trimate 400; Antidote 10; Cure-Paral 120; Telepipe 130; Escapipe 70 Armor shop: Laco-Helm 13800, Laco-Crown 15000, LacoCirclt 9600, Laco-Mail 43800, LacoShield 20400 Wow, they certainly got this place up and running in a hurry, didn't they? The townsfolk don't have much to say, but you can purchase some powerful new Laconian equipment here that isn't available elsewhere. The LacoShield is worthless, as only Chaz and Rika can equip it, and the LacoCirclt doesn't increase your Mental score, making it equally useless. However, I do suggest you look into buying the following items: For Chaz, purchase a suit of Laco-Mail. You could buy a Laco-Helm, but I much prefer the Speed bonus that the Swift-Helm gives you. If defense is your thing, however, feel free to grab that Laco-Helm. For Rika, buy a suit of Laco-Mail and the Laco-Crown. It never hurts to have Rika's defense as high as you can get it: if she dies, you're in trouble. Sell off your old gear, and prepare to leave. Now that you're well-stocked with healing items, Dews, and shiny new Laconian armor, use Rune's (or Chaz') Ryuka Tech to... ----------------------------- Return to the Gumbious Temple ----------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 36, Chaz 40, Rika 42, Rune 37 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 36, Chaz 40, Rika 42, Rune 37 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Ice Digger foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Once you arrive at the Temple, you'll find that there IS no Temple, just a black scorch mark on the landscape! Walk into it anyway. You'll end up in the Temple's basement, where the survivors talk about how the Temple was vaporized by, and I quote, "waves of pure hate". Ouch. Walk onto the dais, and the Bishop will begin speaking to the Party. He drops some bombshells on you: 1) Dark Force itself is but a tool of a greater evil force: The Profound Darkness. Well, THAT'S not good. 2) The Profound Darkness is searching for Rykros. What's Rykros, you ask? Good question. The Bishop only says that he knows not WHAT Rykros is, only that you will find all the answers there, and that it is something that The Profound Darkness does NOT want you to find. Thus, The Profound Darkness razed the temple in the hopes that the Bishop would be killed, and thus he could never pass knowledge of Rykros onto you. Well, that plan has failed, and now the Bishop is telling you that you must find the Aero-Prism (another artifact from Alis Landale's time) in order to find the way to Rykros. To this, Rune says that the first generation Lutz (I can only assume he's referring to either Noah of Phantay Star or Lutz or PSII) stored the Aero-Prism in the Soldier's Temple. The Soldier's Temple is due East of Krup, Hahn's hometown. Wren says that, in order to get THERE, you'll need a vehicle that can traverse water. He says that he'll get into contact with Demi about finding such a vehicle. At this point, Chaz and the Bishop talk about the Party's mission, and prophesy, and the future. After that, the game shows you flying back to Motavia. Once you arrive at the Nurvus Spaceport, Demi begins speaking to you (via intercom, perhaps?), saying that she's been expecting you. Wren asks Demi what Motavia's status is, and she replies that everything is a-ok, and that everything Wren requested is ready. The game then shows us a picture of the third (and final) vehicle: the HydroFoil! Now you can go ANYWHERE on Motavia. Anywhere at all. This will become important in a little bit, but for now it means that you have access to the Soldier's Temple. Chaz asks Demi if she's ready to tag along (why would you WANT her back in the Party, Chaz? She sucks. S-U-C-K-S sucks!), but she says that she must remain wired in order to properly reboot Motavia's Climate Control Systems, which will still take some time. After wishing Demi luck, you regain control of the Party. Heal up using one of the Magic Circles, and exit the Spaceport. Okay then, before we go galavanting off to the Soldier's Temple, let's first examine the properties of the third and final vehicle: The HydroFoil The HydroFoil is one kick butt machine. Not only is it able traverse any terrain that the Land Rover was able to do, it can do so at a faster speed. Oh, and it can travel over ANY body of water, as well. The HydroFoil is equipped with twin Photon Shot Cannons, plus is has the following special attack modes "Optin"s: Th.(under) Grid (x8): When you activate this, the HydroFoil sends out a smothering grid of electrical energy that fries every monster at once. Good for those pesky groups of ForcedFlies. X-Burst (x2): What is this crap? It only has 2 charges, and yet it only does 100 more damage than the Thunder Grid mode? Uh, okay, sure. If you're traveling over water, save these for the Hewgillas, otherwise you can just swap a Thunder Grid for this attack once in a while to keep things fresh. For the curious, the Ice Digger begins each battle with 680 SP. As with the other two vehicles, the vibrations of the HydroFoil's engines will lure forth Motavia's biggest, baddest monsters - which will promptly attack you, of course. Here's a list of the beasties you'll run into while tooling around in the HydroFoil: Grasshounds, Forced Flies, and DesrtLeaches you've seen before. I'm not going to cover them again, you should know how to kill these things by now. Leviathans are only encountered when the Foil is moving over large bodies of water, and good thing too, because they're powerful! Don't bother trying to trade shots with this thing: you'll need to use at least 3 shots of Thunder Grid and/or X-Burst to kill one - they have over 1100 HP. Or better yet, you can try running, since the stupid things only give you 300 XP. 300!? When I was getting 3,000 in the Garuberk Tower? Whatever. Hewgillas are a bit like aquatic versions of ForcedFlies. They're not that strong, travel in large grounps, and are more of a nuisance than anything else. Put them out of their misery with a shot of Thunder Grid and let's move on. Elmelews will appear in the far corners of Motavia, near the "new" towns. They're just grey versions of Hewgillas, with slightly stronger attacks and a few more HP. They're weak to lightning, so just off the lot of them with a blast of Thunder Grid. As I said before, the HydroFoil can move over ANY ground surface - well, except for trees and mountains. You don't need to utilize cliffs or beaches or anything like that... the Foil will simply move across any body of water that you direct it over. Very convenient, to say the least, and it allows you to access the final little bits of Motavia that you haven't been to yet. You may notice that the HydroFoil's offensive capabilities are, well, quite lacking. This is done for a reason, I have found: the HydroFoil can escape from any battle. Every time. Without fail. So, the moral of the story is not to fight in the Foil, but to flee using the Foil. I have never once failed to run from a Foil fight, so flee! Well, it's that time again: time to do some more side-quests! That's right, now that you have the HydroFoil, the final four Jobs become available. I'm going to go over all of them right now (none of them are very long or involved, really). If you don't want to do them, I'm afraid you're just going to have to scroll way down until you come to the section titled, "To the Soldier's Temple". If you're still here, it's time to complete the final four Jobs. Who knows, maybe you can honor Alys' memory and make a name for yourself as a Hunter. At any rate, we'll start with the: ------------------------------------ Hunter's Guild Job #5: Stain in Life ------------------------------------ First available: once you obtain the HydroFoil from Demi. Reward: 50,000 Mesata for returning Uzo's Chief's two daughters. Associated Costs: 50,000 Mesata to post the daughters' bail. Difficulty: Annoying and then some. Location: Uzo, then Aiedo's Prison. Suggested Party Level: Whatever Level you're at now will suffice. This job comes from the "chief" of the remote village of Uzo. Phantasy Star II players may remember Uzo as that idiotic Island Dungeon wherein you had to take a series of tunnels to the top of a mountain, where you would find a tree that may or may not give you the oxygen-producing leaf you neeeded to go underwater (there were like 8 trees, all identical in appearance, and each of them had a different path you had to take to reach it). Anyway, about the Job... The Chief wants you to find his two missing daughters, and is willing to pay you 50,000 (!) Mesata. Well, sign me up! The receptionist informs you that Uzo is on an island "south of here". Wow, be a little more vague there, why doncha? Good thing I'm here to help. Warp back to Piata, hop in the Hydro Foil, and head due SW. If you still can't find Uzo, head due S from Piata, and when you run into a mountain range (literally), turn and head W. Soon enough, you'll see... ================== The Village of Uzo ================== Inn: 80 Mesata per person (320 Mesata) Item shop: Trimate 400, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Uzo is a very useless little town. About the only thing that the townsfolk do is whine about how they're cut off from the mainland due to the outbreak of Biomonsters. Oh, and the monsters have ruined their fishing. Yeah, cry me a river. Things are tough all over. Once you've had enough of the locals whining, go the house in the far SW corner of town and talk to the village Chief's wife (the Chief will claim that he knows nothing about commisioning the Hunter's Guild). The wife goes on and on about how worried she is, but doesn't offer any clues as to where her daughters might be, other than that they build a raft to go to "the mainland." That's right, it's going to be one of THESE quests. Warp back to Aiedo. Remember those two girls who were hanging out at the Marketplace's Inn, staying night after night without any way to pay? Well, they're in jail now. So, head to the jail (it's a bit East of the Hunter's Guild) and talk to them in their cell. They'll whine about being in jail. Talk to the sister on the left a second time, and she'll say that there's no way the guard will let her out. We'll see about that. Talk to the guard standing next to you, and he'll offer to let them free if you post their bail. You'll NEVER, EVER, EVER guess how much their bail is. Ding ding ding, you are correct sir, the answer is 50,000 Mesata! Oh, the programmers are just SO clever. All this work for NOTHING. Sigh. Pay the 50,000 Mesata, and talk to the sister on the left again. The Party will find themselves back in Uzo, where the ecstatic parents will agree to remit the 50,000 finders fee to the Guild. Not much else to do but head back to the Guild so you can break even and start the next Job, which we will talk about below: -------------------------------- Hunter's Guild Job #6: Dying Boy -------------------------------- First available: once you obtain the HydroFoil from Demi. Reward: 10,000 Mesata for curing the boy's "illness". Associated Costs: 500 Mesata for an Alis-Sword from Termi's Tourist Trap. Difficulty: Annoying. Location: Torinco, then Termi, then Torinco again. Suggested Party Level: Whatever Level you're at now will suffice. This Job comes from a gentleman in Torinco village. He wants to discus a plan to cure his ailing son. Well, we have to get to Torinco in order to do this Job, and for once the receptionist is right on the money: Torinco is directly South of Monsen. The only, uh, catch is that you have to detour West around the mountains, then head East a bit, back to where you started from, and continue South. After a few moments you will see... ====================== The Village of Torinco ====================== Inn: 90 Mesata per person (360 Mesata) Item shop: Trimate 400, Antidote 10, Cure-Paral 120, Telepipe 130, Escapipe 70 Another town filled with whiners. Like the Uzoians, the Torincoians bitch about the local monsters, mainly, and how they're cut off from the Mainland. A couple people will drop clues about the next Job - the ones that talk about crops being eaten, and the guy that lives in the center of town. You KNOW he'll be important because he has a portrait! Once you've had your fill of whiny, angsy villagers, head as far north as you can. There will be a house on the northernmost cliff. Enter it and talk to the guy standing next to the bed. He rambles on about how his son has a "psychological illness" since they can no longer visit Termi and see the statue of the Heroine, Alis (The boy idolized Alis, it seems, and is going through severe Idol Withdrawal). He even tells you what to do next: go to Termi and buy something from the Tourist trap, in the hopes that it will "cure" his son. Well, father knows best. If you didn't buy an Alis-Sword from the Tourist Trap in Termi (like I told you to, but no one ever listens to me), you must do so now. Once you have an Alis-Sword in your inventory, talk to the ailing boy. Chaz will whip out the Alis-Sword and show off his 733t sword-swinging skillz for a while, and then he will give the sword to the boy, telling him that the sword is filled with the strength and courage of Alis. The boy (of course) instantly begins feeling better. Talk to dad a second time, and he'll agree to remit your fee to the Guild. That's a wrap. Return to the Hunter's Guild, collect your 10,000 Mesata, and sign yourself up for... ------------------------------------- Hunter's Guild Job #7: Man with Twist ------------------------------------- First available: once you obtain the HydroFoil from Demi. Reward: 9963 XP and 555 Mesata for beating the King Rappy. Associated Costs: None, unless you consider fighting monsters costly. Difficulty: Moderate. Location: Torinco, then the Rappy Cave NE of Torinco. Suggested Party Level: Average Party Level should be 37-39. This Job is a monster hunt. To initiate it, return to Torinco and speak with the man in the house on the far Eastern edge of the 3rd cliff up from the town's entrance. The man, who calls himself Sekreas, tells you that if you defeat the "head honcho bird", the others will stop munching on Torinco's tasty crops. The Boss Bird can be found in a cave to the Northeast. So, exit Torinco and walk Northeast. You'll find yourself at... ============== The Rappy Cave ============== Monsters to be found in this dungeon: Rappy, Blue Rappy Items to be found in this dungeon: None. Ugh. The Boss of this dungeon is: the King Rappy. Be afraid. Suggested Level: Wren 36, Chaz 40, Rika 42, Rune 37 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 36, Chaz 40, Rika 42, Rune 37 This short little dungeon is filled with nothing but Rappies and Blue Rappies. Just follow the walkthrough and heal when necessary. The Boss can be a bit of a pain, but the XP you get makes it well worth fighting. General Combat strategies: Well, there are only 2 kinds of critters here: Rappies are little pushovers. Equip Wren with the PulseVulcn and set up a Macro where he attacks first. Voila, the battle's over. Blue Rappies are fast and hit hard, but have next to no HP and very low defense. Just take the hits they dish out and use regular physical attacks to polish the lot of them off. Walkthrough: ============ From the cave's entrance, walk N until you come to an E/W T. The W passage is one long dead end, so turn and go E instead. This E passage will turn and go N after a few steps, so follow it. Eventually you will come to a NW/E T. The E passage leads to nothing but a pair of dead ends, to take the NW path instead. Follow as the path goes from NW to due N, and after climbing a few sets of steps, you'll see a large, yellow bird sitting on a dais-like cliff. This critter is the Rappy Cave's Boss, the King Rappy: Boss: King Rappy (3000 HP) The King Rappy is more of a joke than anything else. It has the following two attacks: An attack that looks like Phonomezer, that attempts to Paralyze a single Party Member. Oh no! Sure, if it works it's fairly annoying, but you can handle it. Earthquake, which will deal between 40 and 90 points of damage to the Party. Counter this with a Sar and keep on attacking. Just do your usual thing. Rika casts SaNer, then Deban, and then Shifts herself and Chaz, and finally begins DblSlashing. Wren puts up a Barrier and then Flares away. Chaz uses up his charges of RayBlade and then switches to CrossCut. Rune uses up his charges of Legeon and Tandle, then switches to NaWat. Have Rika heal if you absolutely have to. After several rounds of this, the King Rappy will flee in terror. Before the Party can chase after it, Sekreas will appear! He tells you to leave the Rappy alone, and then apologizes? Rika, understandably confused, asks what's going on. Sekreas explains that, as an animal lover, he began rearing the Rappy birds here in this cave. As fate would have it, the birds began breeding out of control and left in search of food, which they found in abundance in Torinco. Of course, the people of Torinco were not too happy about this. They tried (and failed) to get the birds to stop - killing some in the process. This made Sekreas angry... why kill the birds when all they were trying to do was survive? So, he commissioned the guild to send a hunter to beat the King Rappy, in the hopes that this powerful bird would humble the hunter and teach the people of Torinco a lesson. Yeah, all this is pretty screwed up. The best part is, Chaz just lets Sekreas go... and the bastard repays your kindness by NEVER REMITTING THE FEE FOR COMPLETING THE JOB. So all you get is the XP from the King Rappy. Sigh. Well, that's three out of four. Return to Aiedo, hit the Hunter's Guild, and sign up for the eighth and final Job: ------------------------------------- Hunter's Guild Job #8: Silver Soldier ------------------------------------- First available: once you obtain the HydroFoil from Demi. Reward: 80,000 Mesata from the townsfolk of Zema, plus a crapload of XP and Mesata for going through the Vahal Fort, PLUS a bunch of Laconian equipment AND a new Skill for Wren. DO THIS QUEST. Associated Costs: None, unless you consider fighting Mechs costly. Difficulty: Hard. The Vahal Fort is packed with powerful Mechs. Location: Zema, then the Vahal Fort. Suggested Party Level: Average Party Level should be 39 or more. An old man in Zema is complaining about strange Mechanical critters that have suddenly appeared outside of town. The villagers are offering 80,000 Mesata to the Hunters that can take care of the problem. The receptionist tells you to go to Zema and talk to the old man in the house "furthest back". Well, get moving! Warp to Zema, and... wait a minute! When you try to enter Zema, you'll be attacked by three Servants! Kill them off with a combination of AirSlash, Disrupt, Tandle, and a shot from Wren's PulseVulcn. If you let them live, they will only target Wren. Very strange. Now you can head to the old man's house, which is in the NE corner of town. The old man says that he needs you to drive the machines away... they haven't attacked anyone - yet - but they sure are making the townsfolk nervous. They seem to be interested in Birth Valley, as well. Finally, the old man tells you to question the townsfolk to find out more about the Servants. There's only one person you need to talk to: the woman in the house closest to the town's entrance. She tells you that she saw the machines flying in from the Northeast. Well, there's our clue, people. Unfortunately, the clue is way off (as per usual). Warp to Monsen, and then get in the Hydrofoil. Head N to the Plate System, and then go due NE. You'll cross a river to a large island. In the center of this island (head directly E, and a little S) is the source of the Servants. Prepare to enter: ============== The Vahal Fort ============== Monsters to be found in this dungeon: LifeDeletr, Jurafaduel, Browren486, VopalSphre, Goldine, Dominator Items to be found in this dungeon: Repair-Kit, PhotnErasr, Laco-Gear, Laco-Armor, Positron Bolt The Boss of this dungeon is: Daughter, the rogue AI system. Suggested Level: Wren 37, Chaz 40, Rika 43, Rune 37 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 39, Chaz 43, Rika 46, Rune 39 **Please note that while I'm doing this place as soon as it opens up, you can certainly do the Soldier's Temple first, and head for Rykros, etc. and come back here later, possibly with a 5th Party Member in tow. That would certainly make this place easier to tackle, but i think the rewards outweigh the danger. I suggest you do it now, and that way Wren is that much stronger when you go through the Soldier's Temple. But again, the choice to do it now, later, or never is yours.** Here we are, the game's final "optional" dungeon. It just so happens that you can't even enter it unless you sign up for the Silver Soldier Job, which is why I haven't mentioned it before now: if you come here without taking on the Job, there will be a laser barrier barring your path, and you'll be unable to enter. However, now that you're, uh, on the job, Wren will recieve an emergency message from Demi when you enter. She tells you that the Plate System has been attacked by a "mysterious android attack squad", and that the rogue androids captured the "Automatic Defense Module 3". This whole conversation sounds like a bad episode of Star Trek, especially when Wren tells Demi to "shift to Alert Mode 1". Mr. Sulu, engage! At any rate, it seems that someone/thing is giving these androids the order to destroy any AI systems above a certain level: thus the attacks on the various systems, and the androids only attacking Wren. It also explains why the robots were near Zema: they were trying to find and destroy Birth Valley - not realizing, of course, that SEED already blew it up. After some more speculation, you regain control of the Party. Well, the laser barrier is no more, so you're free to enter. But before we go too far... General Combat strategies: As you might expect, the Vahal Fort is much like Motavia's other Systems: a maze of corridors and elevators, policed by a variety of gun- and laser-toting Mechs. You will encounter the following: LifeDeletrs are now a common enemy. That's right, no combining tomfoolery, they're just there. With all their nasty attacks, these guys should get Spark priority. If it appears alone, use Double Damage attacks in case Spark fails. If you get them with Browren486s, try out some of your big guns: Tandle, AirSlash, and Disrupt. The key thing is to kill Deletrs ASAP. Jurafaduels are the newest version of the Balduel. These big copper colored cylinders posses some potent attacks: a flame thrower that toasts a single Party member, and a missile attack that nails everyone. Yeeouch. Try to Spark them into oblivion, and back that up with Double Damage attacks and NaWat in case it fails. Browren486s are the newest and most powerful model of sentry bot. They pack a mean chaingun, the ever-powerful Flare Shot, and they can use Spark to kill Wren instantly! In addition, they can put up a Barrier, making them harder to kill. They're also fairly quick, but they don't have too many HP and are seriously weak to lightning attacks. If you encounter these alone, just use regular attacks and Rune's NaWat or Hewn to destroy them. If you get them with a LifeDeletr, it's time to whip out Tandle. Vo(r)palSph(e)res are lean, green, FloatMine-wannabe machines - with a twist. They won't do anything unless you attack them first, in which case they respond by blowing up in your face. However, unlike FloatMines, this self- sacrificing move doesn't damage you - it simply has a (pretty good) chance of killing you outright! You really don't want that to happen, so try to use attacks that will kill these things in one shot: Double Damage attacks, NaGra, Tandle, Flare, etc. Or, you can just run. They're not worth much XP anyway. Goldines are the latest version of the Blauzen. They can use StatisBall to try and paralyze someone, and they also have a powerful claw attack. Although they have only a few hundred HP, Goldines have high defense and can dodge physical attacks. So use things like Flare, Double Damage attacks, and NaWat. Dominators are like big, coppery Loaders. They can use DblSlash to deal some serious physical damage, and Phonomezer to hurt the entire party. They also have a LOT of HP and high defense. Spark them if you can, otherwise use your Double Damage attacks to put them out of commision before they kill a wounded Party member with DblSlash. Walkthrough: ============ Entry Level (Repair-Kit, PhotnErasr) From the entrance, head N and after a few steps you'll find yourself in an E/W T. Head E and you'll come to a dead end... but there's also a chest that contains a Repair-Kit. Go back to the T and head W this time. Follow the hallway as it winds W, then N, then NW, and finally S. You'll see an elevator nestled in the center of a 4-way intersection. Ignore the elevator for now, and take the E path (the W and S paths are just tiny dead ends). Go through the narrow N hall, then go E again until you come to a chest containing a PhotnErasr for Wren. The Photon Eraser is a high-damage, single-shot gun for Wren. Again, I prefer the multi-shot PulseVulcan, but the choice is yours. Once you have the Photon Eraser, head back to the elevator and take it down to... Floor B1F (Laco-Gear, Laco-Armor) Once you emerge from the elevator, walk S. At the end of a short walkway you'll find a chest containing Laco-Gear. Finally, Laconian equipment for Wren! Put it on immediately. Now go back to the elevator and circle around it to the N. You can use either path. Once the path intersects with itself again, head further N and you'll come upon an E/W T. Go W, following the hallway as it goes W, then S, and then E, ending in a chest containing a suit of Laco-Armor for Wren. Put it on, and retrace your steps to the T, and then head E this time. The hallway will head E, then S, and finally W, ending in an elevator that will take us down to... Floor B2F (No items) Your Party arrives on this floor and discovers a literal army of robot sentries that look like giant Goldines. What if all these machines were mobilized all at once and given the command to attack..? Not a pleasant thought. Let's move on... From the elevator, head W and "search" the control panel at the edge of the walkway. This reverses the conveyer belts that currently prevent you from reaching the elevator on the E side of this floor. Now, walk E past the elevator, and ride the conveyer. Once you reach the small platform to the E, walk a few steps N and hop on THAT conveyer. This one lets you off by a descending elevator. Ride it on down to... Floor B3F East (Positron Bolt) Only way to go here. Head S, to the end of this short hallway, and open the chest. In the chest are more android parts, which Wren will promptly install. Wren can now use the Positron Bolt Skill! This beastly skill is a bit like Rune's Legeon Skill, in that it attacks every monster on-screen with a non- elemental attack that deals roughly 300 damage to anything and everything. Very nice to have, so don't pass it up! Once Wren is done installing the Bolt, head back up the elevator, to... Floor B2F revisited Ok, ride the conveyer to the N. Once you get off, walk as far W as you can, and ride the conveyer you find there S. At the end of this conveyer is another descending elevator. Take this down to... Floor B3F West (Daughter) From the elevator, follow the narrow hallway as it winds S, then E, and finally N again. The hallway will widen, and you'll see once of those Super Computers that marks the end of these dungeons. Approach it, and the computer will identify itself as "Daughter". Wren and Rika freak out, saying that the Daughter project was abondoned. Well, appently not. Daughter confirms that she has been attacking the other AI systems, since they are not obeying her orders. Any AI that does not obey Daughter, the protector AI of Algo, is obviously an enemy of the Algo system and therefore must be eliminated. Wren tries to explain to Daughter that her network and commands are not working because she is not connected to any other AI systems. This is because Daughter's network was replaced by the current one, under control of Zelan. Daughter thinks that Wren is lying in an effort to deceive her and undermine her efforts, and she sics 3 Dominators on you! Ouch! Use your strongest attacks here: PosiBolt or BurstRoc, AirSlash, Disrupt, and Legeon or Tandle. If you don't kill these things quickly, you're in for a world of hurt. Once the battle is over, Wren shuts down Daughter while she argues that without her, Algo will fall into anarchy. Wren tells her that humans have done just fine on their own for over 1000 years - and in fact, they are faring better without super computers guiding their every move, as was the case in Phantasy Star II, where the people of Algo grew lazy and submissive under the seemingly benign reign of the Mother Brain. At any rate, Wren shuts down Daughter for good, and the Party talks about how Zelan must have sent a signal that awakened Daughter while the Party was galavanting about Dezolis. Well, now the threat posed by Daughter and her amry of androids is no more. Use Hinas to exit this place, and then return to Zema and speak with the old man. He'll thank you for a job well done and remit your pay to the Hunter's Guild. Return now to the Guild and speak to the receptionist, who will fork over your 80,000 hard-earned Mesata. And that's it. There's nothing more you can do at the Hunter's Guild, where they enrich the lives of Hunters. Heal up somewhere - Alys' Home, Nurvus Spaceport, an Inn, whatever - and then warp to Krup. It's time to resume our Quest, and to do that, we need to go... ----------------------- To the Soldier's Temple ----------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 39, Chaz 43, Rika 46, Rune 39 (you did the Man with Twist and Silver Soldier Jobs, RIGHT?) Suggested Level to reach: Wren 39, Chaz 43, Rika 46, Rune 39 Foes you might face: Crawler, Sand Newt, Locusta HydroFoil foes: Grasshound, Elmelew, ForcedFly, Hewgilla, DesrtLeach, Leviathan Starting from Krup, get in the HydroFoil. The Soldier's Temple is right there in plain sight just to the East. Float on over to the South side of the little island that the Temple is on, and disembark. There will be a cave opening in the cliff to the North. That opening is the entrance to the Island Cave, but before you can enter, a strange man approaches you. He asks the Party if they are here to inspect these ruins. They say that they are, but want to know who he is. He says his name is Seth, and that he's a traveling archeologist. He tells you that he wants to get to the Temple at the top of the cliff, but the cave that leads to it is infested with monsters. He then asks to tag along, saying that he has some skill in battle and will try not to make a nuisance out of himself. The Party (mainly Wren) agrees to let him come with - after all, the more people you have, the easier it is to fight monsters, right? Well, new Party Member, new rundown. A Seth Rundown: Seth, Scholar, Level 35 Techniques: None. Despite not being an andoid, and possessing a Mental score, Seth does not know any Techniques. Skills Shadow: This Skill will attempt to lower the Agility of all your foes. I think that by now you know how I feel about these useless abilities that lower enemy stats, so I'll spare you the lecture. Next! Corrsion: Now this is what I'm talking about! Corrosion blasts every enemy for a considerable amount of damage - and Seth starts with quite a few "charges" of this. Do NOT shy away from using this in every battle. MindBlst: This Skill will attempt to paralyze all your foes at once. Oh joy, it's Bindwa with a fancy new name. Here's an idea: let's just use Corrosion to KILL ALL THE MONSTERS INSTEAD OF PARALYZING THEM! Boy, am I smart, or what? Sigh. DthSpell: No pussyfooting about, here. Death Spell does just exactly what it says. It only works on one Biomonster at a time, however. What a bizarre character. Seth has no TP (and therefore no Techniques), but he has a couple of very powerful Skills. I mean, it's nice to have another body for this dungeon, but it would be nice if this guy was, I dunno, a little more versatile? Oh well, all you can do is use what he has to the fullest. This place isn't very long, so don't be afraid to have Seth use some Skill or another at every opportuniy. Corrosion in particular will make most battles much quicker. As for starting equipment, Seth starts with a LacoCirclt, a LacoDagger, a Rflc-Shield, and a Cyber-Suit. That's some pretty nice gear! Seth has fairly good defense and HP, so you can put him in front of Rune (or even in the 3rd spot) if you so desire. Well, that's enough about Seth. Let's get moving. Once you enter that cave opening, you'll find yourself in... --------------- The Island Cave --------------- Monsters to be found in this dungeon: Jr. Ooze, Fract Ooze, Shrieker, Flame Newt Items to be found in this dungeon: Escapipe, Trimate, Sol-Dew, Star-Dew, Moon-Dew, Aero-Prism The Boss of this dungeon is: a big ol' spoiler. You'll find out when you get there. Suggested Level: Wren 39, Chaz 43, Rika 46, Rune 39, Seth 35 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41, Seth 36 This annoying little cave is the only thing keeping you from the AeroPrism. The monsters here are a bunch of pathetic wimps, but the dungeon itself has a few false leads that make it a bit tricky to navigate. Having that 5th Party member does come in handy here, as you'll fight a lot of random battles. General Combat strategies: There's a bunch of palette-swapped, generic Biomonsters to slog your way through in this place. If you couldn't tell, I don't like this dungeon much, simply because it's an overlong set-up for a fairly obvious plot twist. Oh well, enough of my griping. I'll say it again: Seth has about 20 charges of Corrosion, and there is NO REASON not to have him use it in EVERY battle. Anyway, you will face the following foes: Jr. Oozes you may have seen before, during the Fissure of Fear Job. And they are complete pushovers here. Just use physical attacks on them, and they will die. Moving on... Fract Oozes appear here as well. Now, this thing was a Boss once, but now it's just a standard foe. It's once-dreaded Cell Split attack will hardly hurt you anymore, but it still has a ton of HP. If you want to win this battle in an easy manner, just use Eliminat, Diem, and DthSpell on it in the same round. It WILL die. Shriekers can be a little bit nastier, but not by much. They're pretty slow, and they don't have that many HP, either. They do have both a paralyzing attack AND a sleep-inducing attack, but their regular physical attack is what hurts the most. In any case, they're not that hard to kill, so don't waste too many resources on them: physical attacks ought to suffice. Flame Newts have a Firebreath attack that deals moderate damage to low Magic Defense characters, a regular attack that is equally unimpressive, and *gasp* a POISON attack! Try casting NaWat on them for a giggle or two, but otherwise just attack: like the rest of the monsters in this dungeon, the Flame Newts aren't worth expending resources on. Save your good stuff for the Boss that guards the AeroPrism. Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (Escapipe) The moment you enter you're standing in an E/W T. Wow, nothing like forcing you to make big, life-altering decisions right away! Go E first: the passage will end in a dead end with a chest containing an Escapipe. Come on now, guys, aren't we a little beyond Escapipes at this stage in the game? I mean really. Oh well, go back to the entrance and head W this time. The path quickly shifts to a NW heading, with a little NE side-passage, which you should ignore since it's just a dead end. Keep walking NW, then N, and you'll come across an E/W T. For now, walk E, and ignore the steps to the N: another dead end. When you come to a N/S T, go N (S is another dead end) and at the end of the passage, you'll see a path to the W and an opening to the NE. Go in the opening, and you'll find yourself in a large room. Walk to the room's NE corner, and descend the stairs you find there. Floor B1F (Trimate) Walk W from the foot of the stairs, and you'll soon find a chest containing a Trimate. Grab it, and go back up the stairs. Entry Level revisited Leave the room via the opening to the S (the same way you came in) and then head W. Follow the pathway as it curves S, then E. Ignore the path N for now and continue E. After a jog to the SE, you'll see a set of stairs: take them up to... 2nd Floor - west (Sol-Dew) From the stairs, walk E and then N. You'll see a chest containing a Sol-Dew. Finally, some real treasure! Grab it and head back down to... Entry Level rerevisited Walk back E, to that N path that you bypassed earlier. You'll know you're there when you see some steps in the N cliff; walk on up and continue N until you come to an ascending staircase that will take us to the... 2nd Floor - central (Moon-Dew, Star-Dew) When you arrive on this floor, Seth compliments the Party on how strong they are, to which Chaz gets all flustered and modest and makes some dorky comment. Once the dialogue ends, walk E, ignoring the side passage S for now. At the far E end of the hall you'll find a chest containing a Moon-Dew. Get it and return to that S passage you just walked past. After taking a few steps S, you'll be standing in an E/W T. Take the W passage, which will turn S after a short walk. At the end of this path is a chest containing a Star-Dew. Not too shabby; grab it and return to the T, heading E this time. Here's where things get a bit tricky: you'll see a side-passage S in addition to the main path E. However, they are just the two halves of the same loop. At the S end of this loop in a staircase that takes you up to small section of the 3rd Floor - but it's empty. No chest, no nothing. Ignore the stairs, and head W out of the loop (the path to the SE is a dead end). After a short walk, you'll see a side passage to the S (another dead end) that you should ignore. Keep walking W until you're forced to go S. The path will eventually curve E and end in a set of stairs that ascend to the... 3rd Floor - (No items) When you reach this floor, Seth will again pipe up and go on and on about how marvelously strong the Party is. Better composed this time, Chaz agrees and tells Seth that if he trains hard, he can become strong as well. Rika calls Chaz on that, which results in some amusing dialogue. Once you have control again, walk E until you see a side passage leading N. Take that path, since the main path to the E is a dead end. The passage widens into a large room, with an opening in the N wall. Go through it, and you'll find yourself at the... Cliff Top - the entrance to the Soldier's Temple - (No items) Once you emerge from the Island Cave, Seth will thank the Party for all their help, then ask to come along while they inspect the Temple, since there may be monsters in there as well. Chaz reluctantly agrees. Walk a few steps W and then go due N, and there the Temple's entrance is. Take some time to restore your HP before you enter... The Soldier's Temple (Aero-Prism) The Temple is surprisingly small. Just walk N around the "pit" in the center of the room, then go down the steps and grab the AeroPrism out of the chest in the center of the "pit". Chaz asks Rune how they're supposed to use the Prism to find Rykros, but for once Rune doesn't know the answer. Chaz grumbles a bit about that, but for now there's nothing left to do but go back out the way you came. Once the Party is back outside, the AeroPrism emits a blinding burst of light. Rune tells Chaz to hold the Prism aloft; he does, and a beam of light shoots into the sky. Rune says that Rykros will be at the end of that beam. Chaz says that the beam disappears into outer space, and Wren promptly begins calculating the end point of the beam. At this point, the light of the beam has a harmful effect on Seth. His human form crumbles away... and Dark Force stands in his place! Dark Force, back for the third time, and disguised as a human? This Profound Darkness isn't playing games, is it? Before the Party can discuss the situation much, Seth Force attacks! Boss: Dark Force, the humanoid incarnation (8250 HP) Well, this is great. Another Dark Force Boss fight... and you're short a Party member. Lovely. Well, you have no choice but to make due with the characters you have, so let's get to it. Dark Force has the following attacks this time around: He can (and will) lash out with his blade-arm. This attack will usually be a critical hit, and can deal over 130 damage if you don't have DeBan up. If he uses this on Rika or Rune early on, have Wren use a Trimate on them so that Rika can continue to Buff the party. He also uses ShadowBind, which will lower the Agility of the entire Party. This is irritating for the sole reason that you have to waste yet another of Rika's turns re-casting SaNer. Sigh. The ever-deadly MindBlast will attempt to put the entire Party to sleep. This is no big deal, since Wren is immune and Rune, with his insane magic defense, might as well be. You normally wake up the next round anyway, and even if you don't, you can have Rune cast Arows to wake them up, uh, manually. Shrug this off and keep attacking. Once Dark Force has taken some damage, me might use Corrosion on you. You've seen Corrosion before and you know what it can do. There's not much you can do about it other than to make sure you have a Barrier up, and cast GiSar the next round. It will deal about 30 damage to Rune, and 100-125 to everyone else, assuming your Barrier is up. While it may seem like 8250 HP is lot for only 4 characters to dish out, it isn't really that bad. Chaz' NaThu deals 300 damage, as does Rune's Legeon and Efess; and Rika's shift-boosted DblSlash deals up to 350 damage - if she has the SilvrTusk equipped. In a good round, you can deal 1125 damage - so this fight will only last for 9-12 rounds. Then throw in the fact that Dark Force only uses Corrosion once in a blue moon, and you have a rather easy Boss fight. I recommend the following battle strategy: Wren opens with Barrier in the first round, and then uses either Flare or recover in the subsequent rounds, depending on how his HP is doing. You can also use up all his charges of PosiBolt if you got it out of the Vahal Fort. Finally, if only 1 Party member is badly wounded, have Wren use a Trimate on them, since his attacks deal the least damage to Dark Force. Chaz spends the first few rounds casting NaThu. Once he runs out of TP and Rika has Shift cast on him, he should switch to RayBlade, then CrossCut, and finally regular attacks (although Dark Force shouldn't last THAT long). You can have him cast NaRes or use a Star-Dew if the Party is badly injured, but try to have him attack every round if at all possible. Rika should open with DeBan, and then cast SaNer in the 2nd Round, Shift on herself in the 3rd Round, and Shift on Chaz in the 4th Round. You may have to have her heal instead, or re-cast SaNer if Dark Force uses ShadowBind, but then go right back to buffing the next round. Once everyone is properly buffed, have her use DblSlash as much as you can: have Wren handle the healing as much as possible, stopping your slashing only if Dark Force gets Corrosion happy or you run out of Trimates and Star-Dews. Rune is your artillery piece for this fight. Use up all of his charges of the following Skills, in this order: Legeon, Efess, and Tandle; then, switch to NaFoi or NaWat. Always have Rune attack with something, every round - all his attacks deal a lot of damage to Dark Force, and Wren and Rika can easily handle all the healing. Once Dark Force has been defeated - again - Rune remarks that the situation is becoming sticky. Yeah, Rune, that's what happens when the Bad Guys are always a step ahead of you. He says that you must hurry to Rykros, since Dark Force saw the beam - it knew where to find Rykros, before you destroyed it again, and so it stands to reason that The Profound Darkness now knows Rykros' location as well. The Party members all agree that haste is needed. Wren says that he has the location of the beam stored in his memory, so the only thing left to do is follow the "directions" of the Aero-Prism in the Landale. Once you gain control of the Party, re-enter the Island Cave, then use Hinas to return to the entrance. Now Warp to Kadary and walk to the Nurvus Spaceport. We are at last heading... --------- To Rykros --------- Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 Foes you may face: Scorpius, Speard, Tech User HydroFoil foes: Grasshound, Elmelew, ForcedFly, Hewgilla, DesrtLeach, Leviathan Once you've entered the Nurvus Spaceport, heal up using a Magic Circle, and walk N to the Navigation Screen. Select Rykros from the list. The Landale will blast off, and then the game will enter a cut-scene. Chaz ponders what Rykros is... is it like the Air Castle, or perhaps an artificial satellite like Zelan or Kuran? Wren comments that, if they keep on this course, they will leave the Algo solar system entirely! Rune says they have no choice but to continue on... Just then, the Aero-Prism emits a pulse of light... and a planet appears just in front of the Landale! This new planet does not show up on the Landale's radar - and it certainly isn't Motavia, Dezolis, or Palma... That's right, boys and girls. Rykros is the long-lost 4th Planet of the Algo solar system, invented by the game's programmers because the morons who made Phantasy Star II blew up Palma. That's my theory, at least. At any rate, the Party lands on Rykros and enters an odd looking crystaline structure... ------------------ The Silence Temple ------------------ Items to be found here: GuardShild, GuardSword, Telepipe, Trimate Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 The Party enters the shrine, finding themselves in a large square room. They walk South, and when they reach the center of the shrine, the room darkens suddenly, and a star map appears on the floor. At that moment, a voice speaks, welcoming the Party to Rykros and calling them "Protectors". The voice, who calls itself Le Roof of Rykros, explains that Rykros is protected by a powerful barrier - normal beings cannot sense its presence at all. In addition, Le Roof explains that Rykros is in an ecliptical orbit (kind of like Pluto in OUR solar system) and it only comes within a reasonable distance of the other three (well, two now) planets every 1,000 years or so. How convenient. Chaz asks Le Roof what it can tell them about The Profound Darkness. Le Roof replies that he does have many things to tell you - but first, you must perform a task. On Rykros, there are two towers: the Courage Tower, and the Strength Tower. Once you have faced the guardians of both, then Le Roof will recognize you as true Protectors and tell you all it knows. Chaz asks if they are being tested, and Le Roof replies that they are. But, the testing is absolutely necessary. Le Roof tells you to hurry... already, the hand of Darkness is stretching its fingers towards Rykros. With that, the lights go back on, the Party is healed, and you regain control. Before we go running off to the Towers, take some time to explore this place (cryptically named the "Silence Tm"... Tm for Temple?). Once you walk out of the room where Le Roof is, you'll be standing in a 4-way intersection. The South exit is just that... an exit to the overworld map of Rykros. The East and West paths are two ends of a large loop that goes around the room you were just in. In this loop are four chests: On the West side of the path, a single chest containing a GuardShild. In the North area of the passage, a pair of chests containing a GuardSword for Chaz, and... a Telepipe? Sigh. Rune can cast Ryuka 30 times consecutively, guys, we REALLY don't need teleporting items anymore. Really. On the East side of the hallway, a single chest containing a Trimate. Equip the Guardian Sword on Chaz immediately, and save the Guardian Shild for later. Rune can't use it, but there are other characters who can... Once you've raided the Temple, leave it via the South exit. It's time to explore Rykros! ------------------------- The Fourth Planet: Rykros ------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 Foes you may face: CrminHeads, DeathBearr, Cula-Bellr Vehicle foes: Cula-Bellr, DeathBearr, CrminHeads Rykros has a bizarre green landscape dotted with giant cyrstaline formations instead of mountains. Very strange. For whatever reason, the indigenous lifeforms on Rykros are all quite hostile. Oh well, I guess a barren Rykros would make getting to the Towers too easy, or something. At any rate, you will encounter the following creatures on Rykros: CrminHeads (Crimsin? Nice transration, guys) are nothing special. They have a fairly potent physical attack (which can poison you), and a RayBreath attack that deals good damage to characters with low magic defense. But, they don't have particularly high HP or defense, and are a bit on the slow side, so a round of regular attacks (and a Hewn or NaGra from Rune) will earn you an easy victoly. DeathBear(e)rs are the new and improved version of the DarkMarauder. They have learned one new trick: they will (very rarely) cast Seals in an effort to disable your characters' Techs, but they mostly cast Shift and swing a very big, damaging axe. They have a respectable HP, but they are undead/unholy... so use attacks like Efess, DblSlash, and CrossCut to kill them quickly, before they hack Rune to pieces. Instant Death attacks also work well. Finally, casting Deban renders them impotent, so you can do that and just attack if you feel like conserving Skill charges. Cula-Bellrs are hard to kill simply by virtue of their large HP reserves. They also have a fairly powerful physical attack, and a Lightning Breath attack that can deal 200 (!!) damage to Wren (less to the others, but still ouch). Even better, Instant Death attacks only affect them infrequently. About all you can do is take your lumps while pumping Double Damage Skills, Flare, and NaWat into them until they die. It might be tempting to hop into the HyrdoFoil, IceDigger, or Land Rover and go exploring, but you're better off on foot. The attacks of the vehicles simply don't do enough damage to these things, and while you're whittling away at your foes, they will be taking huge chunks out of the vehicle's SP. If you decide that you absolutely MUST use a Vehicle to get around Rykros, stick to the Hydro Foil and abuse it's ability to run from any battle no matter what. When you're ready, it's time to tackle one of the towers. I'm going to start with the Strength Tower, to the NW, but you can scroll down the the Courage Tower section and do that Tower first, if you so desire. However, the items you find in the Strength Tower make defeating the Guardian of the Courage Tower much easier, so I strongly recommend doing the Strength Tower first. ------------------------ To the Tower of Strength ------------------------ Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 (If done first) Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done second) Foes you may face: CrminHeads, DeathBearr, Cula-Bellr Vehicle foes: Cula-Bellr, DeathBearr, CrminHeads From the Silence Temple, all you have to do is walk NW until you come to the Tower. It's not hard to find at all: once you see some glowing clusters of crystals, it means you're quite near. Once you see it, go ahead and enter. It's time to tackle... --------------------- The Tower of Strength --------------------- Monsters to be found in this dungeon: BladeRight, HakenLeft, DeathBearr, CrminHeads, Dark Witch, TwinArms, BloodSaber, Illusionst, Le-Faw-Gan Items to be found in this dungeon: Moon-Dew x2, Guard-Claw x2, Guard-Rod, Palma-Ring, Mota-Ring, Dezo-Ring The Boss of this dungeon is: De-Vars, guardian of the Strength Tower Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 (If done first) Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done second) Suggested Level to reach: Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done first) Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 (If done second) Neither of these towers is terribly long or involved, but the monsters are a bit on the nasty side, so be careful, and make sure that you're keeping your HP up at all times. There's also some powerful new Guardian equipment scattered about, so don't be afraid to explore in order to track down every chest. The following is list of the monsters that you will encounter here: DeathBearrs and CriminHeads (from outside) will begin to appear on the Tower's upper floors. See my strategies just above to deal with them. BladeRights and HakenLefts make encore appearances here. Deban will render them completely impotent, but if you want to save Rika's TP, regular attacks and a blast of something nasty from Rune will finish them off in short order. Oh, when you encounter them together, there's a chance that a single BladeRight and a single HakenLeft will combine, becoming a TwinArms: TwinArms are a blend of BladeRight and Hakenleft. And just when you thought those things couldn't get any more bizarre... TwinArms only use two attacks: HakenBolt (deals moderate physical damage to one character) and BladeShine, which it uses far more rarely - but that's good, because it deals almost as much damage as HakenBolt... to the entire Party. I'd recommend trying a combination of Instant Death and Double Damage attacks to kill these things before they can use BladeShine on you. Dark Witches are, obviously, a magical foe. As such, they have access to the following Techs: GiZan, GiFoi, GiSar, and GiWat. Either put up a Barrier or be prepared to use Double Damage attacks to kill them before they can blast your Party. BloodSabers are glass cannons: low HP, low Defense, powerful attacks. Fortunately for you, they're none too fast, either. Just beat them down with a Double Damage attack, and you should be fine. Illusion(i)sts are the new and improved variation of the ChaosSorcer. They can use a number of nasty magical attacks, including Hewn, Corrosion, Tandle, DeathSpell, and Flaeli. Ouch. Either put up a Barrier, or be prepared to go all out with your attacks. You don't want to be hit with a Tandle when you don't have a Barrier up - it hurts. Le-Faw-Gan, a distant cousin of D-Elm-Lars, will also make an appearance here. Like the Illusionists, they have a variety of powerful magical attacks, including "Tandil" (it's just like Tandle), GiZan, and a surprisingly powerful physical attack. They also pack a lot of HP. These are probably the most dangerous foe in the entire Tower - ESPECIALLY when they show up in pairs - or in threes (!!!). Use some of your BIG guns on these guys: PosiBolt, Legeon - or better still, Negatis - Instant Death attacks, AirSlash, RayBlade, Disrupt, DblSlash... use whatever it takes to kill them before they manage to take someone out. Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (Moon-Dew) From the entrance, walk N until you see an ascending staircase. You will bypass what appear to be several side passages, but they're nothing but dead end "wings" of the rooms that you're passing through. The only thing of interest on this level is the chest just to the left of the stairs. Grab the Moon-Dew it contains, and then take the stairs up to the... 2nd Floor (Guard-Claw) From the stairs, head S. You'll see a chest: walk S, then E, then N, and finally walk W into a narrow hallway to get to it. It contains a Guard-Claw for Rika, which presents you with a dilemma: you must choose a combination of Guard-Claw, SilvrTusk, and GenocyClaw. I recommend the Guard-Claw and the SilvrTusk, but the choice is yours in the end. Now, return to the stairs, and walk W. There will be an ascending staircase there; take it up to the... 3rd Floor - west (No items) Nothing to do here other than to walk S and take the stairs you find up to the... 4th Floor - west (Guard-Rod, Guard-Claw) From the stairs, walk E to a chest containing a Guard-Rod. While I wouldn't equip the Guard-Rod, it just so happens to be one of the BEST ITEMS IN THE WHOLE GAME: IT CASTS GiSar WHEN USED AS AN ITEM!!! Well, now you can sell all those Star-Dews, I guess. Don't be afraid to have Wren or Rune or Chaz or whoEVER use this in battle to supplement Rika or just to save TP for a Boss battle. Alright now, return to the stairs, and head N, then E. At the end of this narrow hall is a chest containing another Guard-Claw. I'd keep Rika's Silvr-Tusk over a second Guard-Claw, but you can equip it if you'd like. That does it for this floor, but what a haul! Go back down the stairs, to the... 3rd Floor - west revisited Walk N and descend the stairs back down to the... 2nd Floor - revisited Alright now, walk a few steps E, then go S. Turn E when you must, and then head N when you can. Soon enough you'll see a set of stairs on your right; take them up to the... 3rd Floor - east (Moon-Dew) Just NW of the stairs is a chest containing a Moon-Dew. Once you've claimed that, walk S as far as you can, then turn W and finally N. There will be a set of stairs to your left; take them up to the... 4th Floor - east (No items) Not much to see here. Walk five steps East and five steps South and ascend the stairs you find there up to the... 5th Floor (De-Vars) When you arrive on this floor, you will see a flaming creature being attacked by a pair of Le-Faw-Gans. They Tandle the creature, and then he promptly destroys them. Wow. And guess who you get to fight? That's right, so take this opportunity to heal yourself to full HP. When you're prepared, approach the creature and talk to it. It will tell you that it's bored of slaughtering the pathetic creatures that come to challenge it, and it says that if you've passed Le Roof's scrutiny, perhaps you will be strong enough to give it a good fight! Boss: De-Vars, guardian of the Strength Tower (5555 HP) De-Vars is the "physical" Boss (whereas Sa-Lews of the Courage Tower is more of a "magical" Boss), so waste no time in putting up DeBan, which will make this fight a whole lot easier. De-Vars will use the following attack: DisruptArm, a powerful physical attack that will deal over 100 damage to the entire Party - unless you have DeBan up, in which case it will deal only 50-70 damage, which is far more manageable. Unfortunately, De-Vars will use this attack EVERY SINGLE ROUND. Ouch. The fastest way to beat De-Vars is to do the following: Wren: in the first Rounds, use his charge(s) of PosiBolt. Once you've used up all of his PosiBolt charges, have Wren use the Guard-Rod every round to negate the damage the Party is taking from De-Vars' DisruptArm attacks. Chaz: Until Rika buffs him with Shift, have Chaz use either NaThu or RayBlade. Once he's buffed, start hacking away with CrossCuts. Rika: Cast the following, in order: DeBan, then SaNer, then Shift on Chaz, and finally Shift on herself. Now you can have her start DblSlashing. Rune: Use the following, in order: Legeon, Tandle, then NaWat. It will take quite a few rounds, but eventually De-Vars will go down. The only hiccup in this strategy is when Wren runs low on HP... in that round, you'll have to have him Recover while Rika casts GiSar or NaSar (or uses the Guard-Rod herself). You're then free to go back to your regularly scheduled beat-down. Once you've beaten De-Vars, he congratulates you and tells you to take "these items as the proof you need". He disappears in a flash of light, leaving behind three chests: Left chest: Palma-Ring (now it's Palma again! Transration is fun and EZ!) Center chest: Mota-Ring (short for Motavia, of course) Right chest: Dezo-Ring (short of Dezolis, see Phantany Star II) The Rings function as Helmets: Wren can equip the Palma Ring; Rika, the Mota Ring; and Rune, the Dezo Ring. You can and should equip them immediately, as the Rings are definately better than the Laconian head gear they're currently wearing. Now that you have the Guard-Rod and the three Rings, this next Tower should be a breeze. See why I told you to do this tower first? Well, you're all done here, so Hinas out, then warp back to the Silence Temple with Ryuka and heal up in the center room. Once you're back outside, make a Save, and then we're off... ----------------------- To the Tower of Courage ----------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 (If done first) Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done second) Foes you may face: CrminHeads, DeathBearr, Cula-Bellr Vehicle foes: Cula-Bellr, DeathBearr, CrminHeads From the Silence Temple, all you have to do is walk SE until you come to the Tower. It's not hard to find at all: once you see the glowing clusters of crystals, it means you're near. Once you see it, go ahead and enter. It's time to tackle... -------------------- The Tower of Courage -------------------- Monsters to be found in this dungeon: BladeRight, HakenLeft, DeathBearr, CrminHeads, Dark Witch, TwinArms, BloodSaber, Illusionst, Le-Faw-Gan Items to be found in this dungeon: Star-Dew x2, Guard-Armor, Guard-Mail, Guard-Robe, Algo-Ring, Rykr-Ring The Boss of this dungeon is: Sa-Lews, guardian of the Courage Tower Suggested Level: Wren 40, Chaz 44, Rika 47, Rune 41 (If done first) Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done second) Suggested Level to reach: Wren 42, Chaz 46, Rika 49, Rune 42 (If done first) Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 (If done second) Neither of these towers is terribly long or involved, but the monsters are a bit on the nasty side, so be careful and make sure that you're keeping your HP up at all times. There's also some powerful Guardian equipment scattered about, so don't be afraid to explore. The following is list of the monsters that you will encounter here: DeathBearrs and CriminHeads (from outside) will begin to appear on the Tower's upper floors. See my strategies above to deal with them. BladeRights and HakenLefts make encore appearances here. Deban will render them completely impotent, but if you want to save Rika's TP, regular attacks and a blast of something nasty from Rune will finish them off in short order. Oh, when you encounter them together, there's a chance that a single BladeRight and a single HakenLeft will combine, becoming a TwinArms: TwinArms are a blend of BladeRight and Hakenleft. And just when you thought those things couldn't get any more bizarre... TwinArms only use two attacks: HakenBolt (deals moderate physical damage to one character) and BladeShine, which it uses far more rarely - but that's good, because it deals almost as much damage as HakenBolt... to the entire Party. I'd recommend trying a combination of Instant Death and Double Damage attacks to kill these things before they can use BladeShine on you. Dark Witches are, obviously, a magical foe. As such, they have access to the following Techs: GiZan, GiFoi, GiSar, and GiWat. Either put up a Barrier or be prepared to use Double Damage attacks to kill them before they can blast your Party. BloodSabers are glass cannons: low HP, low Defense, powerful attacks. Fortunately for you, they're none too fast, either. Just beat them down with a Double Damage attack, and you should be fine. Illusion(i)sts are the new and improved variation of the ChaosSorcer. They can use a number of nasty magical attacks, including Hewn, Corrosion, Tandle, DeathSpell, and Flaeli. Ouch. Either put up a Barrier, or be prepared to go all out with your attacks. You don't want to be hit with a Tandle when you don't have a Barrier up - it hurts. Le-Faw-Gan, a distant cousin of D-Elm-Lars, will also make an appearance here. Like the Illusionists, they have a variety of powerful magical attacks, including "Tandil" (it's just like Tandle), GiZan, and a surprisingly powerful physical attack. They also pack a lot of HP. These are probably the most dangerous foe in the entire Tower - ESPECIALLY when they show up in pairs - or in threes (!!!). Use some of your BIG guns on these guys: PosiBolt, Legeon - or better still, Negatis - Instant Death attacks, AirSlash, RayBlade, Disrupt, DblSlash... use whatever it takes to kill them before they manage to take someone out. Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (Star-Dew) From the entrance, walk W and hug the W wall while going N. You'll see a chest: open it for a Star-Dew, and then continue N, until you come to an E/W T. There are ascending stairs at the end of both passages, but for now take the E stairs - the W stairs just force you walk further to get where you're going. So, it's time to explore the... 2nd Floor (Star-Dew) From the stairs, walk N, take a few steps W, and head S again. Hug the E wall while continuing S and you'll come across a chest containing another Star-Dew. Joy. Head W, and when you see a set of stairs, ignore them and go N instead. Follow the hall at is curves E and then back S, and ascend you the stairs you find there. They will take you up to the... 3rd Floor - central area (No items) Nothing to do here but head for those stairs that you see just to the NW. They will take you up to the... 4th Floor - central area (GuardArmor, Guard-Mail) From the stairs, walk SE and you'll see two chests: The South chest contains GuardArmor for Wren, which gives him a massive boost in defense power. Nice. The East chest contains Guard-Mail. The Guardian Mail is equally good for either Rika or Chaz... it's up to you to decide who to give it to. My vote goes to Rika, since she's your Healer and normally has fewer HP than Chaz. Not a bad haul for a little walking, eh? Go back down the stairs now, back to the... 3rd Floor - central area revisited Walk SE and take the stairs back down to the... 2nd Floor - revisited Walk N, then E, then S, and take the ascending stairs to the W up to the... 3rd Floor - outer area (Guard-Robe) From the stairs, walk due E until you can't any more, then turn N and snag the Guard-Robe from the chest you find there. The Guardian Robe presents us with another dilemma: keep Rune's Mental score high, or sacrifice better damage for more Defense and some elemental resistance? I have to go with the Guard-Robe here... the benefits of the new Robe outweigh the extra 10 points of damage that the old one provided. Backtrack now to the stairs, and head N this time. Follow along as the passage turns to the E, and ends in an ascending staircase that will take us up to the... 4th Floor - outer area (No items) Another boring wrap-around level. From the stairs, walk W, then S, and then finally E. Take this last set of stairs up to the... 5th Floor - (Sa-Lews) When you arrive on this floor, you will see a flaming creature being attacked by a pair of CrminHeads. They fire RayBreath at the creature, who, unimpressed, promptly destroys them. Wow. And guess who you get to fight? That's right, so take this opportunity to heal yourself to full HP. When you're prepared, approach the creature and talk to it. It will tell you that it acknowledges that Le Roof sent you and challenges you to a duel, to see if you've got what it takes to be Protectors! Boss: Sa-Lews, guardian of the Courage Tower (5555 HP) Sa-Lews is the "magical" Boss (whereas De-Vars of the Strength Tower is more of a "physical" Boss), so waste no time in putting up a Barrier, which will make this fight a whole lot easier. Sa-Lews will use the following attacks: Fleali, with Rune-like power. I'm not kidding. It can deal 200 damage to an unprotected character, although once your Barrier is up and/or it targets a character with a Ring equipped, it will do far less. This attack is only dangerous in the first few rounds, while you're still buffing yourself. Hewn, as you know, is a powerful magical attack that will deal over 130 damage to the entire Party - unless you have a Barrier up, in which case it will deal only 40-100 damage, which is far more manageable. If you did the Strength Tower first, and have the Rings equipped, your characters will take even less damage than normal. If you don't, be prepared to do some serious healing after getting hit by this. The fastest way to beat Sa-Lews is to do the following: Wren: in the first Round, have him put up a Barrier. In subsequent Rounds, use his charge(s) of PosiBolt, and then put him on Guard-Rod/Trimate/Star-Dew (in short, healing) duty. You won't be have the GiSar-casting Guard-Rod if you chose to do this tower first, in which case just turn Wren into a Trimate-and- Star-Dew dispensing machine. You should have plenty of both by now, and they're rapidly becoming obsolete, so you might as well use 'em up. Chaz: Until Rika buffs him with Shift, have Chaz use either NaThu or RayBlade. Once he's buffed, start hacking away with CrossCuts. Rika: Cast the following, in order: SaNer, then Shift on Chaz, and finally Shift on herself. Now you can have her start DblSlashing. Rune: Use the following, in order: Legeon, then Tandle, then NaWat. It will take quite a few rounds, but eventually Sa-Lews will go down. The only hiccup in this strategy is if he casts Hewn repeatedly (he seems to favor Flaeli, fortunately for you), in which case you might need to have Rika use NaSar to get everyone back up to snuff. Once you've beaten Sa-Lews, he congratulates you and tells you to take "these items as the proof you met and passed me". He disappears in a flash of light, leaving behind two chests: Left chest: Rykr-Ring (short for Rykros, I can only imagine) Right chest: Algo-Ring (for the Algo solar system) The Rings function as Helmets: Chaz can equip the Algo-Ring; you can and should put it on him immediately, as this Ring offers much better protection than the Swift-Helm he's wearing now. The Rykr-Ring, on the other hand, can't be equipped, but it allows you to take a fifth person with you to meet the Profound Darkness. However, we'll worry about that in just a bit. For now, just worry about Hinas-ing out of here, and then using Ryuka to.. ---------------------------- Return to the Silence Temple ---------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 Foes you may face: CrminHeads, DeathBearr, Cula-Bellr Vehicle foes: Cula-Bellr, DeathBearr, CrminHeads Once back in the Temple's central Room, Le Roof makes his dramatic star-map-on- the-floor appearance and congratulates you on your sucessful mission. It then tells you of the Genesis of life on Algo: billions of years ago, there were two great spiritual beings, who fought over control of the Algo soloar system, then still in its infancy. The victorous being - dubbed the Great Light - banished the other to another dimension. That would be the Profound Darkness. The Great Light feared the the Profound Darkness might break free one day, so it erected a great seal: 3 planets, orbiting a fixed star. The Great Light then ordained that there would be Protectors from each of three tribes: the Palmanians, the Motavians, and the Dezolians. For reasons left unexplained, the power of the Great Light's seal would fluctuate, becoming much weaker than normal every 1,000 years. To combat this inherent weakness, the Great Light created Rykros and Le Roof, who were to return to Algo every thousand years to ensure that the Protectors would prevail over Dark Force and the Profound Darkness. Ah, but what good is an invisible planet as a warning? Well, the Great Light knew that, over time, the Protectors would forget their mission. Rykros was designed to appear in the Seal's final moments. Yes, the Profound Darkness exploited the weak moments of the seal. During these times, the most powerful part of its being was able to take physical from in Algo - Dark Force! Each time Dark Force appeared, a group of Heroes was able to destroy its physical form, thus keeping The Profound Darkness fully confined for another 1,000 years. Unfortunately for life as we know it, the Profound Darkness was able to PERMANENTLY weaken the seal by destroying the planet Palma. Now, 1,000 years after Palma's destruction, the Profound Darkness is going to use the combination of there only being 2/3 of a seal and the seal's natural ebbing to try and break completely free of it's bondage. And so the stage is set - by using the Rings, the Party will be able to enter the dimension that the Profound Darkness resides in, confront it there, and conquer it forever. If they fail, Darkness will free itself from its prison, and the seal will be broken. This will surely mean the destruction of the entire Algo system, and the death of every being living there. At this point, Chaz objects to being told what to do, of being told that he was born for the purpose of battling the Profound Darkness. Chaz says that he isn't going to fight for a cause, or a mission - he's free to live his own life, and make his own choices. He gets REALLY mad when Le Roof tells him that the Great Light cannot fight this battle, as it has moved on to cultivate other solar systems. The Party gathers near the Landale to talk things over. Chaz talks about how everyone has come to depend on him, when all he wanted was to avenge Alys. He says that if they blindly follow the orders given to them by the Great Light and Le Roof, then they are no different from puppets like Zio! Rune says he can't blame Chaz for thinking that way, but there is someone at the Esper Mansion whom he says Chaz ought to meet. At this point, the game takes you to the Navigation Screen. Select Dezolis as the destination... --------------------------- Return to the Esper Mansion --------------------------- Suggested Level: Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 Monsters you may face: Helex, Red Mole, SkyTiara, Biter Fly, Snow Slug, Snow Worm Vehicle foes: Lw-Addmer, OwlTalon, ProtectBit Once you arrive on Dezolis, heal up using a Magic Circle and warp to a town, any town at all (or just walk N to Tyler) and start selling stuff! Your inventory is probably chock full of obsolete equipment and items, so sell off ANYTHING you're not currently using - excess Pipes, Dews, Trimates, and all that old equipment. Keep the GuardShild, however. I'll tell you why in a bit. Once you've freed up some inventory space, warp to the Esper Mansion. Return to Lutz' inner sanctum, and speak to the old man. He will say that surely Rune isn't going to give such an important item to a youth like Chaz? Rune says that he is, and the old man shuts up. Head downstairs. Once you're downstairs, Rune opens up a secret passage in the back wall and says that the Sacred Sword Elsydeon awaits... Rune says that Chaz must go, alone, and "meet" with the sword. The game then gives you control of only Chaz, with Rika and Rune blocking the way back out. You can speak to them, but you're not getting back out of the mansion until you decide to brave... ---------------------------------- The S.Sword Cv (Sacred Sword Cave) ---------------------------------- Monsters to be found in this dungeon: Phantom Items to be found in this dungeon: Elsydeon Suggested Level: Chaz 47 Suggested Level to reach: Chaz 47 In this short, short dungeon, Chaz has a date with destiny. There is but one type of foe here: Phantoms are easy to take down if you're at or near the recommended level. A single stroke of the Guardian Sword will slay them, before they use their Hewn and eye beam attacks on you. Neither attack is particularly damaging, but with how short this dungeon is there's no excuse for holding anything back! Walkthrough: ------------ Entry Level (No items) From the entrance, follow along as the path winds first N, then E, then S. After a short time, you'll see a set of stairs that will take Chaz down to... Floor B1F (Elsydeon) Walk N from the stairs. You will see a dais. There is a statue holding a sword on the dais; approach the statue and "search" it. The statue is, of course, a statue of Alis. She's holding Elsydeon in her hands... Suddenly, Chaz hears voices in his head... voices of the Heroes who have saved Algo in the past. They gather in this place, sheltered by the Sacred Sword Elsydeon. They tell Chaz to take Elsydeon in his hands, and he does... In his mind, Chaz can see the battle between Alis and Dark Falz, and memories of Odin, Noah, and Myau... the scene then shifts to the Heroes of Phantasy Star II... Rolf, Rudo, Kain, Amy, Shir, Anna... the death of Nei, and Rolf's pain... and then the whole Algo Solar system, with the spritis of Alis, Nei, and Alys looking on... When Chaz comes to, the spirits say that they entrust to him the Elsydeon, and Chaz agrees to fight for them. The scene then shifts to Chaz, emerging from the Sacred Cave and holding Elsydeon. Rune says that he knew that Chaz would accept the sword... and his destiny. Chaz agrees, saying that he is willing to fight for a future free from the darkness that has plagued the past. At that moment, Wren receives an emergency transmission from Demi - chaos has broken out on Motavia! With that, you are given control again, and Chaz is automatically equipped with Elsydeon. Elsydeon rocks. Not only does it do insane damage, it's like the SilvrTusk in that it deals extra damage to undead/unholy foes. Oh, and it has a VERY good chance to instantly slay any creature that Chaz strikes with a standard attack, like Rika's GenocyClaw, only with a much greater chance of success. With this thing, Chaz suddenly becomes a beast in battle, slaying most anything in a single attack. Well, we're coming up on the Endgame here. There's only the game's final dungeon to tackle - oh, and there's one last optional dungeon, as well. This final side quest will give Chaz a new Technique to play with, which makes it well worth doing - after all, your Main Character can never be too powerful. Well, we'll talk about the final side-quest in a minute. First things first, you need to warp back to the Tyler Spaceport. When you arrive, Kyra and Raja walk out to greet you! Raja has (finally) recovered, and both he and Kyra want to come with Chaz on this, the last stage of the journey. The game then automatically takes you back to Motavia. You land at the Nurvus Spaceport, and are immediatly greeted by Hahn, Demi, and Gryz. They also offer their services. After everyone exchanges hellos, Demi says that a "large hole" has suddenly opened just north of Piata! Things around the hole are dying off, and yet there is no gas or radiation emenating from it. Rune spells it out for you: the "hole" is a Dimension Gate that leads to the dimension that the Profound Darkness was banished to. So, this is it then: stop the Profound Darkness now, or watch as it erupts from that hole, destroying the entrie solar system in the process... Now, as cool as it would be to have a nine-member Party, you only have five protective Rings. And thus, you can only choose a fifth (and final) Party member from everyone who's ever been in the Party (well, except Alys and Seth, for obvious reasons). Note that this choice is NOT permanent. You can swap out your fifth Party member at ANY time, simply by returning here to the Nurvus Spaceport and speaking to the person who want to put into the Party. They will join, and the "old" fifth member will wait here for you to return. If, for whatever bizarre reason, you wish to challenge the Profound Darkness with only 4 people, don't agree to take anyone along. Be warned: once you have a fifth member, there's no going back to four. I'm not sure how they've done it, but all your old Party members have gone up enough Levels so that they are at roughly the same level as Chaz, Rika, Wren, and Rune. As such, most of them have learned a bunch of new Skills and Techniques, so I'm to go through each and every one of them and give you the low down on all the new tricks they've learned. The list will be in alphabetical order, so no one can accuse me of playing favorites (although I do): *Please note, the Levels given here are not set in stone. The actual Level of the character depends on Chaz' Level when you ask them to join. The higher Chaz' Level is, the higher their Level will be. The Levels I list here are the Levels they were at when they joined my Party, but if your Levels are higher (or lower) than mine were, the Levels of your 5th character(s) will vary.* =============== Demi, Level 45 =============== New Techniques: N/A New Skills: None, but she gains a crapload of "charges" on all her old Skills. New equipment: Laco-Gear, SonicBustr, Laco-Armor Ahh, Demi, you still suck. I mean that. She's stuck with the Sonic Buster, since she's unable to use any of Wren's "leftover" guns (for whatever reason). Sure, she has good defense, and a decent attack, and good HP... but guess what? She can still only fight Mechs, and where you're going there ARE no mechs. I guess if you really have a place in your heart for tiny little Demi, or if you can't get enough "Medic Pw", then Demi would make a good 5th member. Me? I'll choose someone useful. Rating: 1/5 =============== Gryz, Level 49 =============== New Techniques: None. New Skills: Sweeping. It's Gryz's version of AirSlash, but with more charges! Not too shabby. New equipment: Laco-Helm, Laco-Axe, Laco-Mail Gryz is back and as one-dimensional as ever. At least Grys finally has an Attack All Skill: Sweeping! With this, he sweeps his axe horizontally, creating a wave that hits every foe at once. Crash has an insane number of charges now, if Instant Death is your thing. Gryz isn't a terrible choice, but his lack of versatility will hurt him you once you're facing the Profound Darkness. There are better 5th members, but Gryz will do nicely if you like a highly physical Party. Rating: 2/5 =============== Hahn, Level 46 =============== New Techniques: GiZan, NaRes, NaWat, SaVol, NaZan New Skills: Astral, Eliminat New equipment: MahlayRing, MahlayDggr, MahlayShld, MahlayMail Let's start with Hahn's new abilities: You've seen GiZan, NaZan, NaRes, and NaWat. But you HAVEN'T seen SaVol. SaVol is the shiznit - you can attempt to kill every Biomonster on screen for a mere 16 TP. And Hahn has almost as many TP as Rune now! With all these new Techs, Hahn becomes a sort of Mage/Assassin: able to kill most Biomonsters outright, but if he can't he has stuff like NaZan and NaWat to fall back on. Oh, and he can heal with NaRes, as well. As for his new Skills, Astral is Hahn's version of Chaz' Explode: he turns into a beam of blue light and instantly kills a single Biomonster. So, uh, it's Vol in Skill form? Then why does he also have Eliminat, which does the exact same thing? I sure don't know, but having that many Instant Death abilities can't be healthy! I like Hahn, I really do, but I can't give him the best rating, for reasons I'll get into later. Rating: 4/5 =============== Kyra, Level 44 =============== New Techniques: NaGra New Skills: Tandle New equipment: None. She still has whatever she was equipped with when she left you on Dezolis. Kyra hasn't learned too many new tricks. Sure, it's nice to have another character with NaGra and Tandle - well, let me rephrase that. With NaGra and Tandle, Kyra suddenly contributes a lot more on offense, although she'll run out of resources long before Rune ever will. Still, as a jack-of-all-trades character, Kyra is an asset instead of a liability. Rating: 3/5. =============== Raja, Level 44 =============== New Techniques: Regen, NaSar New Skills: none, just more "charges" of his old Skills. New equipment: None. He still has whatever he was equipped with when he left you on Dezolis. Raja is back, and more insane than ever. More Ataraxia. More St. Fire. NaSar and Regen. With Raja in the party its like having a portable Inn traveling with you, plus you get a bunch of extra undead/unholy-killing power - which is very important when you're going to face the root of all evil. Finally, Raja has an exclusive Tech: Regen. This monster of a Tech functions at first like NaRes, restoring a single character to full HP. The kicker is that it will continue to restore that Character's HP for several rounds after it is cast, as the very beginning of every round. This is an awesome Tech for the Profound Darkness fight, as it allows you to heal Party members - without having to use Raja's turn to actively heal them. The drawback to this Tech is it's cost: 36 TP, or the same as the TP needed for the NaSar Tech. Using Regen on everyone will severely deplete Raja's TP reservers... but isn't that what Ataraxia is for? In conclusion, there's no real reason NOT to take Raja into the final dungeon with you. Massive amounts of Healing, undead slaying, TP recovery... it's all here. Rating: 5/5 OK. I strongly recommend taking Raja or Hahn along with you, but again, it's your game and you can pick whomever you like to accompany you. If you're into making things more challenging, don't take anyone at all, and try to defeat the Proufound Darkness with only the Big Four (difficult, but do-able). Now, you have another choice to make: to do the game's final side-quest or not. Either way, I'm going to cover this side-quest now, but if you don't feel like making Chaz stronger before confronting the Profound Darkness, I'm not stopping you. Scroll on down to the section entitled "Endgame" and get ready to get some Profound ass. If you're reading this, then you've chosen to do that last little side-quest. Good for you. Heal up at a Magic Circle, and then head North. Once you see the Navigation Screen, select Rykros as the destination. That's right, we are going to... ---------------- Return to Rykros ---------------- Suggested Level: Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 Foes you may face: CrminHeads, DeathBearr, Cula-Bellr Vehicle foes: Cula-Bellr, DeathBearr, CrminHeads Once you land at the Silence Temple, leave immediately and walk SE until you see the Courage Tower. Now, head due West until you see Rykros unmentioned third tower... ------------------ The Tower of Anger ------------------ Monsters to be found in this dungeon: BladeRight, HakenLeft, DeathBearr, CrminHeads, Dark Witch, TwinArms, BloodSaber, Illusionst, Le-Faw-Gan Items to be found in this dungeon: Sol-Dew, Guard-Mail The Boss of this dungeon is: Re-Faze, guardian of the Anger Tower Suggested Level: Wren 43, Chaz 47, Rika 51, Rune 43 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 44, Chaz 48, Rika 51, Rune 44 Now that you have the Elsydeon, you can enter this final sub-dungeon. Much like the Strength and Courage towers before it, you'll go up and down levels, getting confused and snagging a few chests before meeting up with the Guardian on the top floor. So let's get started, shall we? I'm not EVEN going to bother with the monsters this time. You've fought this same set of monsters for two whole Towers now, and I think that by now you know how to deal with them. Walkthrough: ------------ 1st Floor (Sol-Dew) From the entrance, walk N, across the entire floor, until you come to an E/W T. Go W, and then follow the hallway when it turns to the S. You'll see a chest containing a Sol-Dew; grab it and then backtrack to the T. Go E this time, and then head S until you see a set of stairs that will take you up to the... 2nd Floor - east (Guard-Mail) Walk a bit to the NE and open the chest you find there for another set of Guard-Mail. Very nice. Remember that both Chaz and Rika can use it... give this set to whomever you neglected when you got the original one out of the Courage Tower. Now, for some more backtracking. Go down the stairs, back down to the... 1st Floor revisited Head N, then W, then S, and you'll see another flight of ascending stairs. Take them up to the... 2nd Floor - west (No items) From the stairs, walk N, then E, and then head SW until you see a set of stairs that will take you up to the... 3rd Floor (Alys!?) WHAT? When you arrive on this floor, the music will play a Dramatic Chord... and then stop. Chaz finds himself alone. Alone, except that Alys is standing there in the middle of the room! Approach and talk to her. Chaz will ask her what she's doing here, but instead of answering, she... attacks? Boss: Alys Brangwin, Chaz' mentor and Hunter extraordinaire (440 HP) Alys will throw her Slashers at you, but all it takes is 2 shots of NaThu or RayBlade to take her down. When the battle is over, Chaz cries Alys name... and then, a creature of flame appears and taunts you. When he asks you if you want to know of a way to turn your feelings of anger and hatred into a Technique of great power - and this is IMPORTANT now... SAY NO. If you say "Yes", Chaz will fight Re-Faze... alone. You can't beat Re-Faze, unless you're making yourself immortal with a GameShark or somesuch. So, basically, if you choose Yes, it's Game Over. So... SAY NO. When you answer no, Chaz explains that using such a Technique would make him the same as the Darkness that he's fighting. Re-Faze will then grant Chaz the power of Megid, saying that he's confindent that Chaz will not be corrupted by it. And so Chaz now has the Megid Technique. This Ultimate Attack Tech costs 30 TP, but it deals a crapload of damage to every enemy on-screen. This is great Technique to use in order to Level Up quickly in the game's final dungeon. And that's all, folks. We're done here. Hinas out, warp back to the Silence Temple, and board the Landale. Fly on back to Motavia, choose your 5th Party member, heal up using the Magic Circles, and then warp to Piata. We are now at... ----------- The Endgame ----------- Suggested Level: Wren 44, Chaz 48, Rika 51, Rune 44 (After doing the Anger Tower on Rykros) Sandwiched in between Piata and Mile is the Profound Darkness' nasty Hole of Death. This final dungeon, dubbed "The Edge", is a freaky trip into the psychedelic dimension that the Profound Darkness is imprisoned in. Some final preparation tips: if you're taking Raja or Hahn along (you should), buy them Psy-Shields for added defense and more Mental power. Their attacks are pitiful to the point of being worthless anyway. It's also not a bad idea to take along at least one Escapipe and a handful of Trimates (or Sol-Dews). When you're ready, walk into the Hole. This will take you to... -------- The Edge -------- Monsters to be found in this dungeon: BlindHeads, OuterBeast, Gi-Le-Farg, ImagioMage, Dark Rider, ChaosBrngr, SoldrFiend, Prophallus Items to be found in this dungeon: None(!) The Boss of this dungeon is: The Profound Darkness Suggested Level: Wren 44, Chaz 48, Rika 51, Rune 44 Suggested Level to reach: Wren 45, Chaz 49, Rika 52, Rune 45, Character 5 45+ Here we are... The Edge. This trippy dungeon is a bit hard on the eyes, but it's not as complicated as it looks. Just follow the flashing lights on the floor, and remember that the tiles with the funky pattern function like elevators, taking you to a new section of the dungeon. There are, of course, a bunch of new monsters here. Most of them are undead/ unholy Biomonsters (just another reason to take Raja or Hahn along). Chaz will be particularly useful/powerful here, as Elsydeon just eats most of the monsters here for breakfast. The final dungeon's beasiary is as follows: BlindHeads are just like all their lesser brethren: the possess a powerful physical attack (now with Paralyzing Power!), the ever-potent RayBreath, and high defense, but their HP is mediocre. These guys are nothing to worry about, so don't waste too many resources in killing them. OuterBeasts are the granddaddy of all DimensWorm look-alikes. They only have a few HP, but then they take only 1 damage from most physical attacks. You can kill them easily in a number of ways: Elsydeon deals full damage to them, as does the SilvrTusk. Also, the lowly Gra spell will kill the lot of them outright. So, use Gra on groups and have Chaz and Rika slaughter singles and pairs. These guys are easy XP, although they may hit you or cast Gra (or GiGra) on you now and again. Big deal. Gi-Le-Farg is a nasty spellcaster-type, with an arsenal that consists of a surprisingly powerful physical attack, "Tandil", Flaeli, and the GiZan Tech. However, they are easily killed by Chaz' regular attack, or most any other Instant Death attack, for that matter. Be redundant with Instant Death attacks, and victory will be yours in no time. ImagioMages are best described as the Anti-Rune. They have access to most of Rune's most deadly attacks (plus a few others for, uh, good measure). The full list of their attacks is as follows: MindBlast (which attempts to Paralyze everyone), DeathSpell (Instant Death, one Party member), Corrosion, Legeon, Tandle, Hewn, and Flaeli. That's a NASTY skill set, but the good news is that they aren't too difficult to kill: Elsydeon and the SilvrTusk both deal massive damage to them, and Instant Death attacks (especially Raja's HolyWord) are fairly effective, as well. Hit them hard, and they won't ever be able to whittle away your HP with attacks like Corrosion and Legeon. Dark Riders are the last Centaur-esque monster you'll face. Like their predecessors, they have very high attack power, but their HP, defenses, and speed are all mediocre. Their one new trick - ThrowLancr - hits everyone in the Party, but does surpisingly little damage. These guys will fall easily to most Instant Death attacks, so you can use those with the peace of mind that they will leave the Rider(s) quite dead. Dark Riders will sometimes drop a MoonSlashr, which you can give to Kyra to boost her attacks a little further. ChaosBr(i)ng(e)rs are the final and most powerful of the Dark Marauder line of foes. These guys are INDENTICAL to Deathbearrs, except that they have slightly higher attack power and a few more HP. Ooh, big deal. Toast them with Double Damage attacks and continue on. If you're lucky, they may drop a Defeat-Axe, which is Gryz' best weapon: it has a higher attack power than the Laconian Axe, and it has a chance to kill something outright (like the GenocyClaw). If you're using Gryz, try to acquire one of these, as it makes him much more useful. Sold(ie)rFiends are a more powerful variation of TwinArms. In addition to using HakenBolt and BladeShine (both of which deal a bit more damage), these guys can use Vol to instantly slay a Party member. Ouch. They can also heal themselves with GiRes. I think it's pretty obvious that you should try to kill these things quickly, before they can Vol someone into oblivion. I like to give them a taste of their own medicine: attacks like Diem, Vol, Eliminat, Explode, Astral, Crash, Negatis, and HolyWord will ALL work wonders (although you don't quite get a 100% kill rate, it's darn close) in snuffing out the threat of any SoldierFiends you may encounter. Prophallus is this dungeon's rarest foe, appearing only once in a blue moon at best. This Dark Force look-alike has close to 3000 (!) HP, which means you're in for a LONG fight. On the plus side, it can only attack, so if you put up Deban/Warla/Blessing right away, you're pretty much free to beat it into submission with Double Damage Skills. It's undead/unholy, so CrossCut and DblSlash (assuming the SilvrTusk) will do a LOT of damage to this thing. Your reward for beating one: 13099 XP per person, which is twice as much as you can get from any other (non-Boss) battle in the game, so count yourself lucky if you stumble across one. Walkthrough: ------------ Section the first (Rainbow coloration: alternating Yellow/Green and Blue/Red) A very straight forward area. The only thing you can do is follow the path as it heads N with a few twists and turns. You'll eventually come to the Transport Tile that will take us to... Section the second (Blue/Red coloration) Walk E from the Tile, until the path splits, with walkways leading NE and SE. The SE path looks promising, but after you take the Transport Tile to the Third Section, it dead ends almost immediately. So, head NE. You'll soon come to a Tranport Tile that takes you to... Section the third (Green/Yellow coloration) Walk S, following the path whenever it jogs. That little path that you see to the W is the dead-end that I mentioned above, so just ignore it. After a relatively short walk, you'll see another Transport Tile. This one will take you to.. Section the fourth (Green/Yellow coloration) Walk W until the path splits, with paths heading N and W. The N path is just a short little dead end, so just keep on walking W. You'll quickly come to the Transport Tile that takes you to... Section the fifth (Blue/Green coloration) After you walk a few paces N, the path splits into paths going NW and E. The E path is one LONG dead end (the path goes NE for some time, ends in a Transport Tile, and the new section is one big wrap-around that ends abruptly), so go W instead. After a quick jog to the N, the path splits once more. This time your choices are W and N. N is a short dead end, so walk W. The path will turn N and then end in the Tranport Tile that you take you to... Section the sixth (Red/Yellow coloration) From the Tile, walk W, then S, then W again, and finally N to the Transport Tile that will take you to... Section the seventh (Blue/Red coloration) Not much to see here. Walk due N until you come to the Transport Tile that will take you to... Section the eighth - final area! (Blue/Violet coloration) Again, you have no choice but to walk N until you see the Transport Tile. The fact there are no random battles in this section is a very subtle hint that that next Tile just might take you to the lair of... The Profound Darkness! Yes, that's right. That final Tile takes you to the "home" of the Profound Darkness. When you first appear, all you'll see is a dark shadow blotting out the swirling background. Chaz wonders aloud if this is the shape that the Profound Darkness has chosen to take. Rune can sense the intent of the Profound Darkness: anger and hatred of all that lives, and a great need to destroy. He proclaims that such a being must NOT be allowed into Algo! Chaz and company share a brief pep talk with each other, and then they enter the Dark Portal in order to face... The Profound Darkness, the source of all evil (4250 HP, 5000 HP, 13000 HP) Surprisingly enough, this battle will go pretty much like any other Boss battle - the only real twist being the three forms that the Profound Darkness takes (thus the 3 HP totals given above). Your tactics will be much the same as those you used against the various forms of Dark Force. In order to make things a bit shorter (and save my tired wrists some grief), I'm going to use PD as an abbreviation for "the Profound Darkness". Got that? PD. Okay, PD's first form - a bloated, tentacle-encrusted pink monstrosity - has the following attacks: Sh(a)d(o)wBreath: You've seen this one before. Dark Force was quite fond of it, and PD's version is much the same, albeit more powerful. Counter this attack by casting NaRes (or Medice or whatever) on the injured character and pounding PD with your best attacks. FireBreath is, well, pathetic if you have a Barrier up, dealing only 1 damage to most characters. Laugh this off and keep attacking. RayBreath is a little more dangerous, but really it's just a 3/4 strength ShadowBreath. Again, heal the injured character with NaRes or somesuch, and attack, attack, attack! That seems to easy, doesn't it? All single character attacks... and FireBreath? It should come as no surprise that, after you deal a measly 4250 damage, the PD takes on a new form - a large, green, Dark Force-like critter, with new attacks: A regular attack, which is only dangerous if he targets Rune, Raja, Demi, or Kyra with it. Heal with NaRes and be thankful that he didn't use any of his other, more dangerous attacks, like... LightShowr is nothing new, but it will do pretty good damage to Chaz and Rika in particular. It's still nothing that a Sar won't cure. Distortion is just a fancy name for NaGra. This will deal around 150 damage to Wren, 50 to Rune, and some number between those two to everyone else. It's not a bad idea to answer this with a shot of GiSar from Rika or Raja, or better yet, have Wren or Raja use the Guard-Rod. Once you pump another 5000 damage into PD's ugly green hide, it will shift once more, into it's final form: a creepy mix of Mother Brain (from PS II), and the humanoid form of Dark Force. Very Bizarre, and very dangerous, since it can now use these attacks: A regular attack, which is particularly dangerous if you've been Cancelled (see below), but not too bad otherwise. If your DeBan/Warla/Blessing is down, and PD gets in a critical hit (very possible), it will deal enough damage that even Wren will sit up and take notice - and its more than powerful to kill a "frail" character like Rune outright. Beware. Evil Eye can put a character to sleep. This is annoying, because it basically forces Rune to waste a turn casting Arows on them. On the plus side, it deals no damage. Canceling is an extremely frustrating ability: it cancels ALL of your Buffs. If PD uses this on you (and it will, at some point), you're going to have to decide which Buffs you want to restore: you won't be able to bring them all back before PD uses this again and ruins all your hard work. I recommend the essentials: Barrier, SaNer, and Shift on Chaz and Rika. Megid! Ack, that's not fair! You can't use the most powerful attack spell in the game on us! What do you think this is, Dragon Warrior? All kidding aside, Megid is evil. It can deal 175 damage, even to Barrier-protected characters. If PD uses this, be prepared to spend the next round healing hardcore. If you have enough TP to cast NaSar, do so. If not, use GiSar, a Star-Dew, and the Guard-Rod to bring your characters' HP back up. This final form of PD has a whopping 13,000(!) HP, so be prepared for the long haul. This form will take longer to kill than the first two put together! Now, this battle will play out differently depending on who your 5th Party member is, but the Tactics of the Big Four (Chaz, Rika, Rune, Wren) don't really rely on Number 5, so I'm going to list their tactics first, and then give some tips on what your 5th member should do. A few general tips, before we get to character specific tactics: 1) Each time you "defeat" PD and it changes form, all your buffs (SaNer, Shift, Barrier, Deban/Warla/Blessing, Regen,) remain is place, so don't waste time or resources re-buffing yourself needlessly. 2) Each form gets progressively nastier. This should be a given, if you've read about his attacks, but it's still my duty to warn you. 3) The game doesn't skip a beat when PD changes form. The battle continues uninterrupted, with characters that haven't gone yet (even PD itself) attacking in order, as though PD had never done its Presto Change-o routine. For instance, you might "kill" PD in mid-round, only to have Rune attack and Raja heal after it re-forms. 4) If Wren dies (and he might, he tends to take the most damage from everything), have Chaz, Rika, or your 5th member use a Repair-Kit to revive him. If anyone ELSE dies, use a Sol-Dew on them; don't bother with Rever: the character will come back to life with so few HP that PD's next attack will just kill them again, creating a vicious cycle. 5) The Guard-Rod is your best friend in this fight. Use it instead of GiSar when battling the first two forms, to save Rika and/or Raja's TP for the third form's ultra-potent Megid attack, which requires a casting of NaSar to "neutralize". Now, for character tactics: Chaz: now that Chaz has Elsydeon, he will become your primary damage dealer. I recommend having him use NaThu until Rika casts Shift on him, at which point he can switch to RayBlade. Also have him use NaThu if he gets Cancelled by PD's final form. Try to save all of his charages of CrossCut for PD's final form: GrandCross is your friend in the battle's final rounds. Finally, Chaz shouldn't be healing unless absolutely necessary: that's what Rika (and Raja, if you have him along) is there for. Wren: Wren is actually pretty worthless in this fight, except for the Barrier that he's going to put up in the first round of combat, and after every one of PD's "Cancelling" attacks. Other than that, you're going to need to have him Recover often, since all of PD's attacks will deal a great deal of damage to him, even with Barrier up. Just have Wren use a Flare whenever you think you can sneak one in, or maybe have him use a Trimate, Star-Dew, Sol-Dew, or the Guard-Rod if the need arises. Rika: ever the Party Buffer, Rika should open with DeBan and then follow up with SaNer, Shift on Chaz, Shift on herself, and finally Shift on Gryz or Kyra (if present). Once everyone is buffed, have Rika use DblSlash whenever she's not healing, and don't be afraid to put off a Buff or two in order to keep the Party's HP up in the early rounds of the fight. Rika will spend the entire battle healing if you didn't bring Raja along, but if you DID bring him, he'll be able to handle most of the healing duties while Rika dishes out shots of SilvrTusk-and-Shift-boosted DblSlash. If you get Cancelled, have Rika re-cast SaNer, then Shift on Chaz, and then Shift on herself in between heals. Rune: your other big damage dealer in this fight. Have Rune start off with NaWat, NaFoi, and Tandle. You should save all of his charges of Legeon and Efess for PD's final form, when Chaz is going to be attacking with CrossCut: that way, you'll get the occasional uber-powerful Grand Cross Combination Attack to go off. If you somehow use up all Rune's charges of Legeon, Efess, and Tandle, have him cast NaWat, NaFoi, or NaGra, saving Flaeli as an absolute last resort. PD's second form is particularly vulnerable to NaFoi, so that's an option for that portion of the fight. Like Chaz, you want Rune attacking and NEVER healing unless you're in a "Rune has to use a healing item or we might die" situation. As for your Fifth Wheel, here are some ideas: Demi: why would ANYONE bring Demi along for a dungeon that contains no Mechs? Well, if you've handicapped yourself with Demi, you can have her use Barrier in the first round, freeing up Wren to use Flare (big whoop-de-doo). After that, you may as well put her on healing duty and have her use Medic Pw, Recover, or the Guard-Rod in every single round. It's not worth having her attack, since if you're having Demi heal, Rika can be Buffing sooner and dealing much more damage than Demi could ever hope to with DblSlash. Gryz: the problem with bringing Gryz is keeping him alive. Sure, a Shift- boosted Gryz can deal a fair amount of damage, but there are 3 problems: 1) Gryz, despite his high HP, has terrible magic defense. As such, you need to keep his HP very high, or one of PD's attacks might kill him. 2) Gryz has NO DOUBLE DAMAGE SKILL. This is key. Even with Shift or WarCry, Gryz can't deal as much damage as Chaz' CrossCut or Demi's DblSlash. 3) Stike Three comes when you consider that, unlike Rika and Chaz, Gryz has no Holy weapon, and thus he doesn't get that extra damage bonus that his comrades do. All Gryz can do in this fight is attack, over and over and over and... Kyra: as you might have noticed, Kyra doesn't contribute much to Boss fights. Sure, Medice is handy, but not nearly as handy as Rika's (and Raja's) NaSar. You can also have her use Warla, which means it's one less round before Rika starts Shifting people. Basically, you have two options with Kyra: 1) Have her use Medice on the most injured Party Member every round, or the Guard-Rod if the whole Party is hurting. You might still need to have Rika supplement what Kyra's doing with NaRes and/or Gi/NaSar, depending on what PD is doing to you. 2) Treat her like Rune, Jr., and have her use Tandle, NaFoi, and NaGra the whole time, while Rika does all the healing. Not that great of an idea, if you ask me, but you CAN do it. Hahn: well, Hahn is a HUGE asset in GETTING to PD, but he isn't all that great when you actually get there. It's a good idea to have him use Vision once or even twice to start things off (and after every Cancelling), and then the best thing to do is have him alternate between NaRes and NaWat. You see the problem? NaWat doesn't do that much damage, and Hahn has no "heal everyone at once" ability, so he becomes more of a liablity than an asset. Reading the above paragraphs, you can probably see why I recommend taking along our good buddy... Raja: the #1 choice for fighting PD. With his Levels up and his Mental score boosted as high as you can get it, Raja becomes very scary (and over-powered, if you ask me). He makes the fight with PD practically a cakewalk. Have Raja start things off with Blessing (to save Rika from having to cast DeBan) and then use Regen on everyone, in this order: Raja, Rune, Rika, Chaz. This will most likely drain all of Raja's TP, so have him use Ataraxia the next few Rounds to restore it (and everyone else's, for that matter). If you need to heal during these first few rounds, have Rika do it, since the Ataraxias will then restore her TP. Once everyone is Regen-fortified, and you've restored your Party's TP with Ataraxia, simply have Raja cast GiSar or NaSar every round to nullify the damage that PD doing to you. If you start running out of TP, have Rika heal for a few rounds while you abuse Ataraxia some more. Keep this up until PD gives up the ghost. ------- The End ------- Whew! That's it; sit back and enjoy the ending. You've earned it. And no, I'm NOT going to paraphrase it here; you're just going to have to beat the PD to see it. If your Levels are 45 or more, you shouldn't have too many problems, so get your Levels up and get to work! ----------------------------- 6. Wrap-up and Things to Come ----------------------------- That's all for now. If I get some positive feedback about this guide, I may be convinced to sit down and add some appendices... you know, Shop lists, Weapon and Armor lists, Combination Attacks, stuff like that. But really, you don't NEED any of that to beat the game, and most of the information that would be in such appendices is already in the Walkthrough itself, so I'm not going to waste a crapload of time putting all those tedious lists together unless I get some requests for them. Otherwise, I can't think of anything else to add. After reading the whole thing over and proofreading it 3 or 4 times, I think this thing's pretty much done, but if you feel I missed something, or have some Boss tips, or anything like that, don't hesistate to e-mail me and share your thoughts with me. I'll be more than happy to add you to the credits section. E-mail me at: nematocyst@hotmail.com OR mquaintance@sbcglobal.net ----------------------------- 7. Credit Where Credit is Due ----------------------------- - To Sega of America, for localizing this incredible game for all us American gamers to enjoy. Kudos to you all! - To Brian Kern and his Castlevania: Symphony of the Night FAQ/Walkthrough (here on GameFAQs), for his Legal Text - I borrowed quite a bit of it. Sorry and/or Thank You, Brian! - To me, for spending the better part of two months putting this monster together. I mean, just LOOK at that file size... almost 500 KB... of TEXT. Just insane. I hope you guys appreciate this thing... it took me FOREVER to type it up... Copyright 2004 Mark Quaintance (Marak)