O ________ ________ | \__ __ \ \__ __ \ __| |__ ____/_ | | \| ___ __ _ \ __ | | \| \ __ _// | | \\\ /\ / \\/ | | \ / | \ | /_\ || | | /_\ | \ | | | /_\ \ \__ \| | |_/| | |/ \| //-\\ || | |_/| //-\\ |/ \| | | //-\\ \__ \ || | _ | | || \| /---\ ||_/ | _ | /---\ || \| | | /---\ / // || | | \| /_\ \/ \/ /_\\__| | | \|/ /_\\/ \ | |/ /_\/\_// /\ | | | | | / | / | / / / / T A C T I C S T h e W a r o f t h e L i o n s %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% % FINAL FANTASY TACTICS: THE WAR OF THE LIONS FAQ % % Version 1.16 % % by Fritz Fraundorf % % qumarsh@gmail.com % %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% For best results, view this document using a fixed-width font (e.g. Courier). Make sure that the window is at least 79 characters wide, so that the numbers below all appear a single line: 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789 If they appear on more than one line, you may need to make your window bigger. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- %%%%TABLE OF CONTENTS%%%% To jump to any section of this FAQ, press Ctrl+F to Find and type in the code (beginning with 00) next to the section title. I. Revision History 00rev II. Frequently Asked Questions 00faq III. Walkthrough - Main Quest Chapter I: The Meager 00walk1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00walk2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00walk3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00walk4 IV. Walkthrough - Subquests 00sub Agrias's Birthday 00agr Gollund Colliery 00col Recruiting Balthier 00balt Nelveska Temple 00nel Recruiting Cloud 00cloud Disorder in the Order 00dis Lionel's New Liege Lord 00lio Midlight's Deep 00md V. Battle Strategies Chapter I: The Meager 00bs1 Chapter II: The Manipulative & The Subservient 00bs2 Chapter III: The Valiant 00bs3 Chapter IV: In the Name of Love 00bs4 Subquests 00bssub Midlight's Deep 00bsmd VI. Jobs General Information about Jobs 00job0 Standard Jobs 00job1 Special Jobs 00job2 Monsters 00mon VII. Ability Strategies Ability Combos 00abil Character Strategies 00char Party Strategies 00par VIII. Equipment and Items 00equip Weapons 00weap Shields 00sh Headgear 00head Armor 00armor Accessories 00acc Items 00item IX. Errands 00err X. Reference Poached Items 00poach Shop Chart 00shop Rare & Missable Item Locations 00rare Ivalician Calendar 00calendar Zodiac Compatibility 00zodiac Status Changes 00status Geomancy Chart 00geo Prime Numbers 00prime Random Battles 00rb Various Tricks 00tricks Zodiac Stone Locations 00stones FMV Movie List 00fmv FF References 00ffr XI. PSone -> PSP Changes Game Changes 00psone Name Conversion Chart 00names XII. Credits / Disclaimer 00cred ******************************************************************************* I. REVISION HISTORY 00REV ******************************************************************************* ---Version 1.16 (12/21/07)--- - Added another column to the ability lists that indicates whether Action Abilities require an unbroken line of fire between the user and target (e.g. Throw Items) or if it can "go through" other units and walls (e.g., magicks and sword techniques). - I upgraded the Poached Items list with indicators of which poached items are not available in stores and/or can only be found by poaching, to help with your treasure hunting activities :) . Thanks to xboxpro1 for asking about this and inspiring me to add it to the FAQ. - Clarified how the Reflexes ability works and added an additional ability combo involving it. Thanks to reader Luze for this info. - Added another ability combo from Tony Lawrence: Balthier's Barrage paired with Poach (or Tame), as well one of my own: Darkness + Mana Shield. - Speaking of Mana Shield, I added an additional paragraph to the Time Mage job description pointing out the virtues of this ability, since it comes in handy for quite a few things :) - A couple readers pointed me to a bug where enemy characters (or Confused allies) can use sword techniques even without a sword equipped, if you steal/break their sword while they're in some sort of negative status effect. I've added this to the Various Tricks section, although it's more something to watch out for than a trick you can use ;). Thanks to Chris Ng and Doug Prevo both for discovering this, and Chris for doing quite a bit of research on it. - Clarified the FAQ about stealing the Genji equipment, since the old version kinda made it sound like you couldn't steal from ANY bosses. Thanks to Not Dice for bringing this to my attention. - Cleaned up a few other typos. ---Version 1.15 (12/20/07)--- - All right, so I vanished for almost a month. Not cool, I know, but I had to step away from the FAQ for a while for personal reasons. My apologies. Since it seems like people are still reading and using the FAQ, though, I'm going to come back now and try to finish things up (and get caught up on FAQ-related e-mail!) - Redid the Equipment and Items section. I added the vertical range of each weapon type, listed when each item becomes available in stores, and added the special jobs and equipment abilities to the "Usable by:" list for each weapon, as well as making a few miscellaneous clarifications & corrections in the list (e.g. Orlandeau can also use Ninja Blades). - I broke down and bought the official BradyGames guide, which has allowed me to add all the stats for the multiplayer-only items to the equipment charts. Thanks also to gunblade15 for some of these stats. I haven't verified *all* of these in-game yet, though, so if there are errors in the published guide, this list will be off as well. - As reader Ty'ere Mosley reminded me, there's actually only a random (but high!) chance that you'll learn Zodiark each time you're hit with it, so I've updated this throughout the FAQ for clarification. - Made some other walkthrough and battle strategy revisions: > Advised that it's not necessary to recruit a lot of extra characters at the start of the game. > At the start of the Chapter II walkthrough, I pointed out the changes in Ramza's Squire job and the usefulness of Steel. > Recommended the Lightning Bow as a good buy at Lionel Castle. > Added more description of the Poachers' Den at the start of the Chapter III walkthrough. > Added some description of Rapha and Marach's skills to the walkthrough when they join up. > At the start of the Chapter IV walkthrough, mentioned that Ramza's Squire job can now equip knight's swords (not that you're likely to get any before then). - Clarified the nature of Reis's Dual Wield in her job description since it was a little unclear in the previous version. - Revised the equipment list for Ramza's, Delita's, and Argath's special Squire jobs to mention that Ramza doesn't gain the ability to equip heavy armor until Chapter II and knight swords until Chapter IV, and that Delita and Argath can equip knives (which I'd somehow omitted). - Updated a few more names -- credit to Leonardo Vaz for the new name of the Malboro Virus attack (Malboro Spores) and Great Malboros becoming the slightly less impressive Greater Malboros, and to the BradyGames guide for the new name of the Madelgelm book (now Omnilex). - Added some items to the Shop Chart that were missing from previous versions. ---Version 1.12 (11/26/07)--- - Made a few walkthrough and battle strategy revisions & additions: > Added info. on how your choice as to whether or not you help Argath and Mustadio in Chapters I and II, respectively, affects your Bravery. Thanks to azymyth for reminding me to add these in and for some of the information. > In Chapter I, I suggested matching the Black Magick you learn with the elemental rod you buy as a good way of increasing magick damage early on. > Further down the road, I also pointed out that Poison Rod in Chapter II isn't really such a good buy as it doesn't boost any type of magick. > Recommended having Ovelia learn as many abilities as she can when she's with Ramza in Chapter II since she can use them later. > When guns become available, I've made a note of recommending the very nice Arts of War / gun combo. > Using instant KO or petrification attacks is another way to circumvent Choco Cure in the Finnath Creek battle - thanks to UnshakableWill for this tactic! > There was still an old part of the Nelveska Temple walkthrough where I'd forgotten to go back and clarify what equipment Reis can use -- thanks to reader Reninzo for catching this; I've fixed it now :) - Added another way of getting Scorpion Tails to the Rare Item Locations list -- they can also be caught with Sticky Fingers. Thanks to Leonardo Vaz for the catch (pun acknowledged but not intended ;) ). - I had the X and Y coordinates reversed for the Excalibur in Midlight's Deep, but they're fixed now - thanks to Edgar Hernandez and Harvey Ng Lee for catching this. - By request, I expanded the Level Ups & Stat Grinding trick (under Various Tricks) by actually adding the location of a Degenerator trap ;) (there's a convenient one on The Stair in Midlight's Deep) - Expanded Rapha and Marach's job descriptions to include more information about how their Mantra abilities relate to Faith. - I added the special names for all the Iaido attacks (e.g. Kotetsu casts "Binding Darkness") to the Samurai's ability list. The ones for the Summons will follow in a future update. - Added the sound effect differences to the PSone->PSP changes list; thanks to Jonathan Tabish for highlighting some of the changed sounds. - Added some more names to the Name Conversion Chart that I'd already updated in the FAQ body but hadn't put in the chart yet. - Corrected a few other typos. ---Version 1.10 (11/23/07)--- - Hooray, the long-awaited revision to the Jobs/Abilities section is finally done! This's the way! And, boy, was it needed. Here's what I've changed: - First, I've added some general explanations to the start of the Jobs section about how jobs, their stats, and abilities work. I also included a chart of how much JP you need to advance to each job level. - I've added comparisons of each job's statistics (on a 1-5 star scale) and Move/Jump numbers. - The descriptions of many abilities are more detailed / accurate. - I've added additional stats for abilities. Action Abilities now list the vertical range of the ability and of its effect radius, as well as it whether it affects just allies, just enemies, or both. Reaction Abilities now list the specific trigger for the reaction and whether or not Bravery affects how likely the ability is to trigger. - The charge time for some spells has been increased in the PSP version (mostly summons, plus a few Time Mage spells and the Oracle's Induration), so I've finally updated these stats. I also added this to the PSone->PSP Changes List. - I rewrote all the job descriptions, and changed some of the abilities I recommend. A lot of people had great suggestions for this: thanks to Carlos Alexandre, James Derr, Pat Polk, Freaky Liar, winddraco, and Warren for their input on this section. - I also added some additional ability combos and character strategies to the Ability Strategies section, as well as one nice new party strategy from Pat Polk. - Onion Knights don't power-up until you hit job level 8 (not at any intermediate stages), so I've updated this in the FAQ and in the job description. Thanks to frequent contributor winddraco for the clarification. - I still need to redo the Monsters section ... that'll be done in a future version :) - By request, I've elaborated on the locations of Sasuke's Blade and the Nagnarok in the Nelveksa Temple battle strategy. - Added a couple clarifications to the Midlight's Deep walkthrough: leaving the map and re-entering does not give you a second chance to get an item, and the Deep is still a red dot on the map even if you've finished the whole dungeon. Thanks to ace luna for suggesting I clarify the latter. - Corrected an error in the Rare Item Locations list -- you can't steal a Blood Sword until well into Chapter II. Thanks to Doug for the catch. - When I was copying and pasting some text to fix the formatting in the weapons section, I forgot to change the range for bows and crossbows and had them listed with a range of 1 -- whoops! ;) Thanks to Agostino Gruppi for catching this one. - Updated the name of the top minotaur monster - thanks to Pat Polk for this information. - Cleaned up a few other typos and formatting errors. ---Version 1.00 (11/18/07)--- - Revised the Midlight's Deep walkthrough and battle strategies, for all 10 floors! (Thanks to reader Warren for an additional strategy against Elidibus.) - I also made a few revisions to the general strategies for the Deep, including the invisibility tactic, info. about the traps on items, poaching strategies, and a caution about Treasure Hunting enemies. - Fixed up a few Midlight's Deep item locations, and added the HEIGHT of each item's tile as an additional cue to help identify it. !!!CAUTION: If you've been using a previous version of the guide, please note that I've now SWITCHED the X and Y coordinates for all the item locations. The first number is now left/right on the D-pad and the second number is now up/down. This is because it was a little weird to have the dimension controlled by the up/down buttons be the "X" dimension (as it was in previous versions). If you're in the middle of the dungeon, please note the change :) - I realized that the information on where to find a lot of the game's rare items was basically scattered throughout this FAQ and there wasn't any organized place to look for it. So, I've add a Rare & Missable Item Locations list to the Reference section; this tells you where to find all the items that you can't get in stores. - Added a list of all the FMV movies in the PSP version. - Fixed a typo in the stats for the Nagnarok; thanks to frequent contributor gunblade15 for catching this. - I had the common & rare poaches backwards for the Tiamat; I fixed this. - Corrected the effect of the Rubber Suit (nee Rubber Costume); it only makes you immune to lightning and does not absorb it. - Added "Is there a New Game+ mode?" and "How do I make Onion Knights stronger?" to the FAQ, since I'd gotten questions about both. I also cleaned up the answers to a few other questions. - Updated more names; thanks to Aaron N. Price for the new name of one of the errands and Pat Polk for the Stone Gun becoming the Stoneshooter. - Cleaned up a few other things throughout the FAQ. - With so many updates, the Revision History section was getting way too long, so I'm now only listing the 5 most recent updates. Hope no one misses the longer list, but I thought it was getting to be a pain to scroll through so many bullet points. - Since I've finished revising the walkthrough and battle strategies, I'm calling this version 1.0. But, obviously, there's still a LOT of work let to be done to turn this into a halfway decent guide. Redoing the Jobs and Abilities section will be up next. - Still catching up on e-mail :( (Older updates not listed.) ******************************************************************************* II. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 00FAQ ******************************************************************************* Q. Is Cloud still in this version of the game, like he was in the PSone release? A. Yes. In fact, you can actually recruit him earlier than you could before. Q. How do I get Cloud to join my party? And where do I find his sword? A. See the "Walkthrough - Subquests" section of the FAQ. You need to complete the Gollund Colliery, Nelveska Temple, and Recruiting Cloud quests in sequence. Q. I didn't buy the flower when I had the chance. Can I still get Cloud? A. Unfortunately, it seems that you have only one chance to buy the flower. If you declined to buy it, you are not able to get Cloud, or complete the other sidequests that depend on the flower. Sorry :( Q. What's new in the PSP version of the game? A. Check out the PSP Version Changes section - just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00psone to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. How do I beat Wiegraf? A. Equip the Auto-Potion ability and a gun on Ramza. Run from Wiegraf and keep using the Tailwind ability to boost your speed. Repeat until you are getting seven or eight turns in a row, then start shooting at Wiegraf. Against Belias, stand still and shoot at him until he dies. Q. Where is Midlight's Deep? A. After you beat Mullonde Holy Place, go to the Port City of Warjilis. You will see a scene at the bar, then the way to Midlight's Deep will appear. Q. How do I beat / find items in Midlight's Deep? A. See the cleverly-titled Midlight's Deep section of the walkthrough ;) . Just hit Ctrl+F and type in 00md to jump to that section of the FAQ. Q. OK, I think I understand the idea of finding the items, but how do I rotate the camera to get the correct perspective? A. Use the analog stick (in the lower left of the PSP). Every time you tap it left or right, the perspective changes. Q. How do I ride a Chocobo? A. Move the character onto the same square as the Chocobo. Q. How do I use the Samurai's ability Iaido? A. First learn the ability you want to use. Then buy several of the corresponding Samurai sword. During battle, you can use the ability if you have the appropriate type of sword in your inventory (NOT equipped). Note that this may break the sword, so I'd buy several copies. Q. How do I learn Ultima? A. Only Ramza and Luso can learn Ultima. Ramza or Luso must be in their base job; then, if someone casts the spell on him, he will learn it. (As long as just one of the two characters learns it, you can have him cast it on the other to learn it later.) The best time to learn the spell is from the assassins outside Limberry Castle in Chapter IV, but you can also have Luso learn it on the Riovanes Castle Roof in Chapter III or from another player in the multiplayer mode. (There's also a guest character who can learn Ultima during the final battle if Ramza or Luso casts it on her.) Q. How do I get the lipstick accessory? A. First, you need to keep Agrias, Alicia, Lavian, and Mustadio on your roster until Chapter IV. Once Chapter IV begins, travel back and forth between Gollund and Lesalia until the calendar says 1 Cancer. If you have at least 500,000 gil and are standing on a town (NOT a castle) when the calendar turns 1 Cancer, you should get the scene where you acquire the Tynar Rouge accessory. Q. Help! I beat the last boss and the game said it was saving afterwards, but when I load up my last save, I'm just at the last boss fight again. Can I go anywhere else? A. Unfortunately, no :(. The game clear save is just to unlock some of the multiplayer missions. If you want to continue roving the world map, you need to keep a separate save from before you began the final sequence of battles. Q. How do I beat the Lionel Castle Gate? A. Give Ramza the Chakra ability and have him use it every turn. Don't open the gate until the fight outside is finished. For more tips, see the Battle Strategies for Chapter II. Press Ctrl+F and type in 00bs2 to jump there. Q. How do I learn Zodiark? A. You can only learn Zodiark from Elidibus, the boss of Midlight's Deep, by having him cast it on one of your Summoners. Equip the Mana Shield ability to survive it. (You only have a random chance to learn the spell when you're hit with it, so you might not learn it the first time you're hit with it, but the odds are definitely in your favor!) Q. How do I recruit monsters? A. You need an Orator. Then just use their Entice or Tame abilities on the monsters. Q. How do I poach enemies? A. Equip the Thief ability Poach and kill a monster with a regular attack. Then go to a Poachers' Den in a trade city and you can purchase what you've poached. Note that Poachers' Dens are NOT available in all cities; only Dorter, Warjilis, and Sal Ghidos have them, and they don't appear until the start of Chapter III. Q. How do I get the Genji equipment? Can I steal it from the boss who has it? A. Unfortunately, you can never steal from that boss in the PSP version, so he gets to keep his Genji gear to himself. Alas! However, you CAN get the Genji Armor and Masamune from the new "Lionel's New Liege Lord" subquest. Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the guide for that quest. Q. Aren't there some new jobs added to the PSP version that weren't in the PSone version? How do I unlock them? A. The PSP version of FF Tactics has two new jobs. To make a character into an Onion Knight, simply get their Squire and Chemist jobs up to level 6. To make a character into a Dark Knight, you first Master (learn all the abilities for) Knight and Black Mage, have Dragoon, Geomancer, Samurai, and Ninja at level 8, AND kill 20 enemies (not just KO--they must turn to chests or crystals) with the character. Yikes! :) Q. What are the new subquests in the PSP version? How do I access them? A. There are three new subquests in Chapter IV, one revolving around Beowulf and the others revolving around Agrias. Beowulf's subquest is available after returning Reis to human form at Nelveska Temple and after completing Mullonde Cathedral in the main storyline. (Press Ctrl+F and enter 00lio to jump to the section with all the details on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest.) Agrias has a couple of different subquests. First, if you still have Alicia and Lavian, the Tynar Rouge event can be accessed on 1 Cancer. Second, after Mullonde, travel to Zeltennia to open up another battle accessed via the Tavern at Gariland. For details on these events, press Ctrl+F and enter 00agr to jump to Agrias's Birthday or 00dis for Disorder in the Order, respectively. Q. How do I recruit Luso and Balthier? A. Luso is recruited automatically in Chapter III, as you head through the Zeklaus Desert on the way to Riovanes. Balthier isn't available until you've completed the battle at Zeltennia Castle in Chapter IV. Any time after that, read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor at the Gariland tavern, then go to the Dorter tavern and read the "Call for Guards" rumor. Win the battle that ensues when you try to leave town and Balthier joins. Q. What's the deal with Onion Knights? They seem horrible. Is there any way to make them stronger? A. Actually, yes. The Onion Knight's job level goes up as you master other jobs, and if you can get the Onion Knight up to job level 8, they'll become more powerful. Also, if you play the game's multiplayer missions, you can earn some powerful "Onion" equipment that only Onion Knights can equip. Q. One of my characters is threatening to leave the team. What do I do? A. This is happening because your character has either a very low Bravery or a very high Faith. Use Orator skills to increase his/her Bravery or lower his/her Faith a little. Q. Is there any kind of New Game+ mode, so that I can start from the beginning but keep all my levels and items? A. Unfortunately, no. FF Tactics dates back to a time before this feature started becoming common in RPGs. Whenever you start a new game, you always have to start from scratch. Q. Where do I get all the Zodiac Stones? A. Look in the Zodiac Stones list near the end of the file. Be warned that this list contains some spoilers. Q. Can you get Aerith to join? A. Sorry, but no -- Aerith does make a cameo appearance (of sorts) in the game, but you cannot get her in your party. Q. Is it possible to find Mog in the Siedge Weald? A. Nope. The game does make references to moogles, but there's no way to actually recruit him as a party member. Q. Why don't any of the characters have noses? A. Your guess is as good as mine. Some genetic defect or something, I suppose. ******************************************************************************* III. WALKTHROUGH - MAIN QUEST ******************************************************************************* You'll begin by entering your name and birthdate. If you want Ramza (the protagonist) to end up with a certain Zodiac sign, see the Ivalician Calendar section to match up the sign you want with what birthdate you should enter. The game start at Orbonne Monastery. A band of enemy knights shows up, and you have to fight. This battle is pretty much automatic, as everyone except Ramza is controlled by the computer. Gaffgarion and Agrias will take care of most of the enemies without any trouble, so you can have Ramza just do pretty much whatever you want. It's possible that one or more of your weaker teammates--Alicia, Lavian, and Ladd--will get KOed. Don't worry; none of them can die permanently in this battle. After Gaffgarion and Agrias finish wiping out the enemies, there will be some story scenes, and Ramza will enter into an extended flashback. %%%CHAPTER I: THE MEAGER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk1 All of Chapter I is a flashback to Ramza's days as a knight-in-training with the Order of the Northern Sky. You (Ramza) and Delita will be at the academy in Gariland, where you receive the assignment to defeat some thieves entering the town. You are automatically joined by four squires and two chemists, then the first battle begins. See "Battle Strategies" for tips on the battles. After you win the battle, you will go to the map screen. You can click on Gariland to visit its shops. If you lost any characters in the fight, go to the Warriors' Guild and recruit some new ones to replace them (or just reset the game). This is probably the only time you'll want to use the Guild. If you lose any of your main team members later in the game, you're probably better off resetting. It's tough to replace characters who have already been built up with a lot of levels and abilities! If everyone survived the initial battle, you shouldn't need to recruit any additional characters at the Guild -- you already have more than you can use in one team, and you'll be joined by more characters automatically as the game progresses. Stop by the Outfitter's in Gariland to buy some Potions. If one or both of your Chemists has enough JP to learn the Phoenix Down ability, learn that ability and then buy a few (1-2) Phoenix Downs at the store. Phoenix Downs are great to have as they allow you to revive a KOed character. Save the game by pressing Triangle and choosing Data, then head west to Mandalia Plain. As soon as you leave the city, you'll have a flashback (yes, a flashback within a flashback) to the death of Ramza's father Barbaneth. After that sequence has ended, you'll be back in Gariland. Click on Mandalia Plain once again and this time you'll actually get there. At Mandalia Plain, you'll meet Argath, under attack by the Corpse Brigade. You can choose whether or not to help him (bottom option) or just go after the Corpse Brigade (to option). This has no long-term impact on the storyline; it only affects the victory conditions for the upcoming battle: - If you choose not to help Argath (top choice), your goal is just to defeat all the enemies. It doesn't matter if Argath is KOed during the battle or not. Choosing this option also adds 10 points to the Bravery score of every character in your current squad, including Delita. 2 points of this change will remain even after the battle. - Choosing to help Argath (bottom choice) adds an additional requirement to the battle: you'll have to keep Argath from getting KOed during the battle. This option has no effect on your team's Bravery. The first option both makes the battle easier AND gives you a boost in Bravery. High Bravery is pretty useful since it increases both your attack strength and your chance of using Reaction Abilities. There's no benefit at all from choosing the second option, so choose the first! When the fight concludes, Argath will join as a guest regardless of which option you choose before the battle. Back on the map, go on up to Eagrose Castle. You'll have a brief chat with Dycedarg, then Zalbaag will send you to rendezvous with his spy at Dorter. At this point, you might want to consider changing some of your characters to new jobs. Chemists are really more useful than either White Mages or Black Mages, so keep your Chemists as-is. But you might want to change some of your Squires to Knights, since Knights have more HP and damage potential than Squires. (Archers are also available at this time. They're good in general, but I'd skip them for the next few battles as melee combat is best for them.) I made Ramza into a Knight at this point. It's probably a good idea to keep at least one Squire, though. Why is that? As long as you have at least one Squire active in battle, everyone will earn some JP towards that job, and that will help you buy useful Squire abilities like Counter Tackle, Move +1, and JP Boost. Move +1 and JP Boost are particulary useful -- JP Boost increases the amount of JP you earn, and will help you learn all the other abilities faster--it's a good investment! At any rate, if you do change jobs, be sure to buy (and equip) new gear for those characters. Before you leave Eagrose, stop by the Outfitter. There's new equipment for sale here. Stock up on Potions, then arm your characters with the new gear. Make sure all your Squires and Knights have Longswords, the best weapon available to them right now. In particular, if you changed any of your characters' jobs, be sure they have equipment that goes with the new jobs. You can safely skip the Mythril Dagger, though--it'll just increase a Chemist's attack power by 1 point, and they don't much fighting, anyway. The shop also sells Battle Boots, which increase your movement range by 1 tile. As handy is this, they're pricey, so you won't be able to afford them for your whole team. If you buy them for anyone, give them to your Chemist, so he/she can get around the battlefield quickly enough to heal people. Also stop by the shop at Gariland, which sells different items than the one at Eagrose. The Eagrose has equipment for Knights and Archers, but the shop offers Plumed Hats and Leather Clothing, which is better armor for your Squires and Chemists. Pick up these upgrades as well; you want to make sure your Chemists stay alive so they can heal people! (Unlike in a lot of games, armor in FF Tactics doesn't actually reduce the damage you take; it gives you more HP or MP. Still, it helps you stay alive longer!) Don't forget that you change Delita's and Argath's equipment, too, despite the fact that they're guest characters. You can (and should!) have them learn new abilities, too! You may want to gain some levels before proceeding. You can do this by strolling back and forth across the Mandalia Plain until you get into a random battle. Note that while Ramza is required in story battles, you do NOT have to deploy Ramza during the random battles. (Also, since Delita and Argath are Guest characters, they won't participate in random battles, only story ones.) By the way, it'll help you out in some of the future battles if you're able to teach Argath a simple Black Magick spell. This is pretty tricky, though, since he doesn't participate in any of the random battles and can only earn JP in the story battles. So, the only way to do this is to have your Chemists take enough actions during the story battles that Argath gains some JP in the Chemist job and is able to unlock the Black Mage job. It's cool if you can do this, but don't worry too much about it if you can't; it's not *necessary*. Your next story destination is the Siedge Weald, to the east of Gariland. Head down that direction. When you get to Gariland, you'll see a scene promoting the multiplayer mode. Continue on to the Weald and complete the battle there. Before proceeding on to Dorter, make sure your Chemists have learned both Potion and Phoenix Down. You can skip the abilities for all the individual condition-curing items, though; most of the conditions are that bad and when you get Remedies, those will cure *any* status change. Other good abilities to learn are Stone and Rush. When you get the JP, pick up Move +1, Focus, and Counter Tackle. Ramza can also use the Tailwind ability, which you'll want to get as well. Chemists should have Potion and Phoenix Down. When you enter Dorter, there will be a cutscene, and then you'll be tossed into a battle at the Dorter Slums. This is a pretty tough battle. If you don't win at first, try again, or build up your levels first. Upon your victory, you'll be able to visit the town. There's no new equipment to buy, but stock up on items. You'll want at least 10 Potions and 4 Phoenix Downs. Potions are cheap (50 gil each), so there's no reason not to carry plenty. Also, winning the battle at Dorter Slums netted you an Iron Sword, which is a better weapon than anything you can find in stores. Equip it one of your characters. Again, you may want to build levels before proceeding to the next battle. When you're ready, go on up to the Zeklaus Desert, where you'll have a battle at the Sand Rat's Sieve. This is a difficult fight--the toughest in Chapter I--so it may take you a couple tries. After you win, you'll rescue the Marquis. You'll also pick up a Blind Knife. It's not stronger than the other knives you already have, but it does inflict Blind status on enemies (lowering their hit rate), so give it to a Chemist. Return to Eagrose Castle. You'll meet Duke Larg, and then Dycedarg will let Ramza and friends in on the next mission against the Corpse Brigade. The shops at all three towns will now be stocked with new items. At Eagrose, you can buy Iron Swords for both your Squires and Knights, as well as Escutcheons, Iron Helms, and Bronze Armor for any Knights you have. Gariland has better light armor, used by jobs other than Knights. If you're using mages, you can buy new magick weapons at Gariland and Dorter, as well as Hempen Robes, which will raise their MP max. All towns also carry a new accessory-- the Shoulder Cape, which will boost both your physical and magick evade rates by a little bit (10%). It's not really as useful as the Battle Boots, though. The most important new item isn't actually an equipment--it's the Hi-Potion, which is now for sale under Items! Hi-Potions restore 70 HP instead of the 30 you get from a regular Potion, and since you should have a lot more than 30 HP now, you'll need the healing boost. You can't use Hi-Potions unless you've learned the Hi-Potion ability (under Chemist), so be sure to have your Chemist(s) learn this ability. Buy as much of the new gear as you can. There's a lot to buy, so you might not be able to afford it all. Aside from restocking your item supply, the priorities are probably the Iron Swords and Bronze Armor at Eagrose, and the Leather Plate at Gariland, as well as restocking your item supply. After you're done shopping, your new destination is the Brigands' Den, south of the Mandalia Plain. You may want to bring more male characters than female ones here, as there's a chance that one of the enemies can charm a female character--but it's pretty unlikely, so don't go out of your way to adjust your roster. The Brigands' Den is easier than the Sand Rat's Sieve, so if you won there, you should be able to attain victory here. Victory here nets you a Bronze Shield, which is a more effective shield than anything else you've got at this point. Following the battle, there will be a cutscene at Eagrose as the Corpse Brigade strikes back. Strip Argath of all his equipment, as he'll be leaving your party shortly. Go back up to Eagrose. A series of scenes will follow in which Ramza and Delita decide to rescue Tietra, and Argath leaves. At this point, you'll probably want to start changing jobs, if you haven't already. If you change any of your characters to Monks, do so; they're very strong fighters. If any of your characters have enough JP to buy the Knight abiity Equip Heavy Armor, a good strategy is to learn that ability and then make the character into a Monk--the heavy armor will make up for the Monk's otherwise poor HP count. It would also help to have a Black Mage and Archer. However, you will still want to have a healer, so give one of your characters the Items ability. Before switching out of the Chemist job, you need to learn (and equip) the Throw Item ability ... otherwise, your items will have a range of 1, and, as Sonic would say, that's NO GOOD! After you've finished changing jobs, be sure to buy matching equipment for them. If you're just now switching to Archers, I'll explain the difference between bowguns and regular bows: bowguns only require one hand, allowing you to equip a shield, but bows deal more damage. Since Archers are usually in the back line and don't get attacked too much, a shield isn't too important, so I almost always use regular bows. Note, also, that the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods (for Black Mages) boost the damage dealt by your Fire-family, Blizzard-family, and Thunder-family magicks, respectively. A good trick, then, is to buy a particular Rod and then learn some of the spells that go along with it (e.g., buy the Fire Rod and then try to learn Fire and Fira). This will increase the damage you can do with your magick. These rods also sometimes cast Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder when executing a physical attack, if your Black Mage happens to get caught in a melee. Return to Gariland. As you cross Mandalia Plain, an animated cutscene will play. Once you get to Gariland, buy plenty of Hi-Potions (12 or so) and Phoenix Down (6 should be sufficient). If you weren't able to purchase all the equipment upgrades you wanted before the Brigands' Den, you could do so now as well, but you're probably better off saving your money--there are even better items coming soon. But if any of your equipment was stolen by the Thieves in the last battle, be sure to replace it. Go north from Gariland to the Lenalian Plateau. You'll have another battle against Milleuda (Wiegraf's sister). After you win this battle, the shops will again update their shelves with new equipment. As before, you'll find heavy armor and most kinds of weapons in Eagrose, and lighter armor in Gariland and Dorter. Buy what you can and replace any items that Milleuda may have broken, then forge on the Fovoham Windflats. At Fovoham Windflats, you'll square off against Wiegraf and his Chocobo Boco (a reference to FF V). This battle isn't too difficult if you have good jobs. Nothing is added to the shops afterwards, so if your item supply is okay, you can continue directly on to Ziekden Fortress, the final battle of the chapter. You'll probably want non-basic Jobs (particularly a Monk or an Archer) for this battle. If you need JP, you can always go to the Siedge Weald or the Mandalia Plain to fight some random battles. At Ziekden Fortress, you'll find Tietra being held captive by a Gragoroth, a Corpse Brigade knight. Argath arrive with some troops, and you'll find yourself battling an unexpected enemy. After you kill him, there are a couple FMV scenes, the fort blows up, and the chapter ends. The game will give you a chance to save, and then you'll move on to Chapter II. %%%CHAPTER II: THE MANIPULATIVE & THE SUBSERVIENT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk2 You now return to the present, at Orbonne Monastery. Your current mission is to rescue Princess Ovelia. After a brief chat, you'll be given a chance to add Ramza's fellow mercenary Ladd and both of Agrias's Knights (Alicia and Lavian) to the party. There's no real reason not to take them along, so sign them up! They start with a bare minimum of abilities, though, so they probably won't see much use compared to the characters you're carrying over from Chapter I. Note that to do one of Agrias's Subquests in Chapter IV, you MUST keep Alicia and Lavian (as well as Agrias, of course) on your roster until the subquest, even if you never use them in battle. Don't dismiss them or let them get killed if you want to complete all the sidequests. Agrias and Gaffgarion will also join as Guests. You still have all your characters from Chapter I (except Delita) as well. You'll see that Ramza's appearance has changed at the start of the chapter. His Squire job is now able to equip heavy armor and shields, plus he has a new ability to learn, Steel. Steel gives a character a +5 Bravery boost during a battle, and some of this increase will remain even after the battle. Raising your Bravery makes your Reaction Abilities and some attacks stronger, so this is a good ability to learn. If Ramza has some spare turns near the end of a battle, you can spend them using Steel to boost up characters' Bravery. If you have any abilities to learn, get them. Since the Guest AI can be somewhat poor at targeting spells, you may want to de-equip any spellcasting abilities (Black Magick or Mystic Arts) that Agrias may have equipped. When you've got your team organized, go north to the only location available to you: Dorter, where a battle awaits you. Win it (well, obviously) and you'll have access to all of the map again. At this point, you should have had all your characters upgraded from the beginning Jobs (Squire or Chemist) to more advanced ones. In particular, you'll want to have a Monk, Archer, Black Mage, and White Mage somewhere in the party. An Orator is also useful, but might take some time to get, as you have to get the Mystic job up to job level 3, and Mystic itself requires job level 3 of White Mage. If you want to take the time to get it, you can also get the Thief Job, which is unlocked by getting Archer to job level 3. You now have the ability to take Errands at taverns. You can earn a lot of gil and some JP from these jobs, so take them up (never more than one at a time, though). Always choose to spend the maxinum number of days possible. While the characters are away, you can continue on without them, or you have the main group build up job levels with random battles. Or, if you just want to pass time, you can walk back and forth between two blue dots on the map, which will never trigger any random battles. (You can use Eagrose & Ziekden Fortress, or Dorter & the Monastery.) All the stores have new equipment, so pay them a visit to gear up your characters. Remember that you'll have to hike back to Eagrose to purchase heavy armor and most weapons. Conversely, you'll only find lighter armor at the other two cities. Don't buy any equipment for Gaffgarion. (It's OK to get stuff for Agrias, but her equipment is already really good.) Stock up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs. Note you can have random battles at the Fovoham Windflats and the Zeklaus Desert that occur on entirely different maps from the story battles there. They also feature some advanced monsters, so try recruiting them with a Orator. Just make sure to keep an eye on the number of eggs they produce; wipe out the majority of eggs before they clog your roster. This is a good chance to build up your characters if you want. As long as you have the Jobs I recommended above and new equipment for your main squad of characters, you should be fine. When you feel confident that you're done preparing, go to Araguay Woods, east of Dorter. Here you have to save Boco (the chocobo) from the goblins (pick the second choice). You shouldn't have any trouble. After the battle, Boco will join. Back on the map, go into your roster screen and change Gaffgarion into a Time Mage or another crummy job. If you have the auto-equip feature on, be sure to also strip off all his gear. Equip it on one of your other characters. He has good armor, and the Power Gauntlet will give you an attack boost. (It's great for an Archer, or another character who doesn't need the movement bonus of the Battle Boots.) Then continue on to Zeirchele Falls. It's pretty here, but there's still a battle awaiting you. Be sure to deploy an Archer for it. After the battle, Delita will leave you with Ovelia. Ramza sets a new course for Lionel Castle, so Fort Besselat disappears from your map, not to return until much later in the game. Back on the map, help yourself to Gaffgarion's equipment if you didn't earlier. If you need items, go back to Dorter. There's also some new equipment for sale at Dorter and at Eagrose, so it's probably worth making the trip as you'll want the new gear for the next battle. However, you may want to pass on the Poison Rod for your Black Mages. While it does a little more damage physically (and sometimes poisons its target), it doesn't boost the power of any of your Black Magick like the Fire, Ice, and Thunder Rods do. Since your Black Mages usually attack with magick most of the time (I assume ;) ), you're probably better off sticking your existing rod. While Ovelia is listed on your roster as a Guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles. So, you're safe de-equipping her Wizard's Hat and Wizard's Robe and giving them to another character. The Wizard's Robe is an especially nice pick-up since you can't buy them stores yet. It raises your magick attack, so give it to one of your mages. However, she WILL be able to use some of her abilities later. So, go into Ovelia's ability screen and teach her as many abilities under Princess as you can, then equip them. They'll come in handy in a few battles later down the road. The next battle is a tough one, so be prepared. You'll want Archers and Black Mages, and, if you don't include a White Mage in the party, one of the characters should have White Magick as a secondary ability. A Black Chocobo also be helpful, if you can get one. (Boco will randomly lay eggs and they may hatch into Black Chocobos, but there's obviously an element of luck/randomness to this.) I ended up using Ramza, two Archers, and a Black Mage. If you don't When you're ready, go south past the falls to the Castled City of Zaland. You'll meet Mustadio, who is being chased by some bad guys. As when you met Argath, you get a choice whether to help him or not, but this time the choices work a little differently: - Choosing the first option means that you DO NOT have to keep Mustadio from getting KOed during the battle. This option raises the Bravery of each character on your current squad (including Agrias) by 5, 1 point of which is permanent. - Choosing the second option means that you DO have to keep from getting Mustadio from getting KOed. However, this option raises all the characters' Bravery by 10, 2 points of which are permanent. In other words, you'll get a Bravery increase either way, but you'll get a BIGGER increase for helping Mustadio. Of course, this also makes the battle harder. So, unlike the Argath battle, there's no clear "best option" here. It's up to you which you choose. Since this battle can be pretty challenging, you might want to just pick the first option; it makes the fight quite a bit easier and you're only missing out on 1 extra point of Bravery. Again, no matter what you pick, Mustadio joins you afterwards as a Guest. When all the talking is finished, you're now able to visit the stores in Zaland. There's not very much in the way of selection, but if you didn't upgrade your equipment after Zeirchele Falls, the Adamant Vest, Wizard's Hat, and Serpent Staff are all for sale here. (There's nothing brand new.) There are also a pair of new Errands available at the Tavern. Your next stop is Balias Tor. When you first try to leave Zaland, there will be a cutscene. Afterwards, you'll be back on the map, but Balias Tor is still red. Travel there for real this time, and you'll get into a fight. Following the fight, a cut scene will pop up back at Eagrose Castle with Dycedarg and Gaffgarion scheming. You can now finally get to Lionel Castle--don't worry; there's no fight! You'll chat with Delacroix and learn about the Zodiac Stones. Agrias and Ovelia will then leave the party. Then you get to go shopping! There is a lot of really powerful equipment you can get here, so load up on it (you should have a lot of money by now). The Lightning Bow is a great weapon for any Archers you have; it has a fairly high attack power and sometimes casts the Thundaga spell. The stores also have a lot of new accessories -- you might want to pick up a Mage's Cloak or two for your magick users. Finally, you can now buy the Remedy item in all stores. It can cure any status ailment, so now there's really no point for your Chemists to learn the abilities for any of the other status-restoring items. Buy any stuff you want in Lionel now, as you won't be able to do so later. Since your access to the shops will be blocked off later, it might be a wise idea to buy some spare pieces of heavy armor and helms. That way, if any of your gear gets stolen or broken, you have a replacement. Now that you've reached Lionel Castle, you'll be able to deploy 5 characters in both story and random battles, instead of just 4. If you've been using a core team of just four characters, be sure to get a fifth equipped. Also, you may want to send some of your characters out on a errand if you haven't been doing them -- you can earn a lot of money from some. Again, walking between Dorter and Orbonne Monastery is an easy way to pass time and complete the errands while avoiding random battles. Be sure to complete all the errands before heading on to Goug, though. Once you get to Goug, it will be a while before you can go back to the other towns to retrieve your characters. If you go back up to Zaland, you can also buy some new light armor: Green Berets and Wizard Clothing. Keep your magick users equipped with Wizard's Hats, though, as those raise their magick power. If Mustadio has enough JP, pick up the Seal Evil ability for him if you haven't already--it'll be handy in the next battle, as it turns undead to stone. On to the fenlands. Fight your way through here on to Goug. Upon arriving in the city, there will be a brief scene and then you're back on the map. The store doesn't have much of anything, but if you've got a Orator or Chemist, be sure to buy them a Romandan Pistol. The Romandan Pistol has a great range overall, and is especially useful if you have a chance to pair it with the Knight's Arts of War abilities -- you can use it rend enemies' equipments or stats at a distance! Goug also has a number of accessories Make sure you're stocked up on Hi-Potions and Phoenix Downs; you'll need them. You may also want to equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters who have it. Try to leave the city and you'll be immediately thrust into a battle. Deploy your Orator (if you have one), somebody with a bow, and somebody with Black Magick. Ludovich, the leader of the Baert Company, will appear with Mustadio and Besrudio (Mustadio's father) captive. Mustadio reveals the location of the Zodiac Stone. Ramza forks it over and you find out that Delacroix was in on the plot. It's fight time. After a fairly tough battle, you check on Besrudio. Mustadio reveals that the Zodiac Stone that Ludovich got was really a fake. Mustadio will now join as you a normal party member -- now you can control him! The only downside to this is that he can now be permanently killed. Be sure to keep him alive; you'll need him to complete most of the subquests in Chapter IV. Musty's equipment is all gone, so be sure to re-equip him. Also, if he learned any skills while he was a Guest, they're gone for some reason. The route back through the fenlands disappears. Take the ship (well, just walk across the ocean) over to the Port City of Warjilis. Upon getting off the ship, you'll see a FMV sequence with Delita. After that scene's ended, you can explore the town. There's no new equipment available, but to make some easy money, go to the bar and accept the errand (to find the Highwind!), then go back to Goug and get the job there as well. (There will be a cutscene with Delacroix's scheming when you leave Warjilis the first time). Just go back and forth between the two cities until both jobs are complete. If you weren't able to afford all the equipment you wanted in Goug or elsewhere, you should be able to get it now. Now that you have Mustadio, a good general trick for leveling up quickly is to use Arm Shot or Leg Shot to debilitate the last enemy in a battle. Then, you're free to let the other enemies turn into crystals/chests. Crystals from human enemies are often a good source of new abilities. Also, while the last enemy is Disabled or Immobilized, you can have your characters attack each other to raise JP. If you use the right strategy, you shouldn't really need to grind in this fashion, but it's an efficient way to raise levels if you decide to do so. Now go up to Balias Swale, where you'll find another fight. You'll deploy two squads here to save Agrias from Delacroix's Gryphon Knights. This is a really easy fight, so you might want to deploy some weaker characters to give them a boost. Agrias will rejoin, this time as a controllabe, non-guest character. Again, if you want to complete all the sidequests in the game, don't dismiss her or let her get killed. After getting Agrias, if you head back down to Warjilis, you'll find the shops have a few new items available. Most notably, you can replace your Power Gauntlets with the Diamond Bracelets, which gives you the Power Gauntlet's +1 Physical Attack but also +1 Magick Attack and immunity to Slow. The latter ability is pretty handy in the upcoming battle, so buy some for your main squad. You can also upgrade your Wizard Clothing to the Brigandine, which gives you a few more HP. (You'll probably want to keep magick-oriented characters on the Wizard Clothing or robes, though, for the magick bonus.) There's also the Mage's Staff, and, in the unlikely event you have a Samurai, the Osafune katana. Your next stop is Golgollada Gallows. Make sure you're ready; this is a tough battle. The execution turns out to be a trap, and you have to fight Gaffgarion. Bring your Diamond Bracelets! After you attain victory at the Gallows (it may take a few tries!), you'll see a scene back at Lionel Castle in which you find out more about Ovelia's past and Delacroix's plans. Then you're back on the map. When you move back up to Balias Swale, you'll see a cutscene with Wiegraf. Now, you can now wander around the map again. Next up is the final battles of the chapter, which occur at Lionel Castle. However, if you want to travel elsewhere, you can do so. If you click on any of the destinations PAST Lionel Castle, you can walk right through the castle without getting into a fight. Just don't click on the castle ITSELF until you're ready to fight. Make sure that Ramza has the Chakra ability and Martial Arts equipped (either by making him a Monk or by assigning it as a secondary action ability). Equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters that have it. When you've done all that, it's time for the final battles of the chapter. When you click on Lionel Castle, you'll have no choice but to attack the gate. As Ramza tries to open the gate, Gaffgarion shows up yet again and surrounds the castle. If you thought the Gallows was bad, here's more fun. Actually, the gate isn't as bad if you play your cards right (see the battle strategies). The save game screen will pop up at the conclusion of the battle -- there's another couple battles right after this one. It's your call as to whether you should save. I'd recommend saving in a separate slot in case you need to go back to get more JP. After saving, you cut back to Delita at Zeirchele Falls with Ovelia. There's an easy battle here against the Order of the Northern Sky, but you get to control Delita during it :) Afterwards, you're given another chance to save (again, don't save in your main slot). Then your roster screen shows up, allowing Ramza's crew to learn new abilities or change equipment (which might be necessary if the Knights at the gate used Rend on you.) When you leave the formation screen, you'll immediately go to the next battle and start deploying your characters. This time you're up against Delacroix, who uses his Zodiac Stone to turn (with some pyrotechnics) into Cuchulainn. Beat him and he'll blow up (with more nifty effects) and drop another Zodiac Stone. Delita delivers Ovelia to Duke Goltanna, while Duke Larg maintains Orinus as the heir to the throne. As the War of the Lions begins over these claims to the throne, Chapter II draws to a close, and you're again given a chance to save. %%%CHAPTER III: THE VALIANT%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk3 Three months into the War of the Lions, things are looking back for both Larg and Goltanna. After a scene of Goltanna's council of war, we cut back to Ramza, whose new mission is to convince Zalbaag that someone is manipulating Ivalice into the war. You'll start the chapter positioned at Dorter. The shops have a lot of new stuff--as weird as it seems, those Croakadile Bags are *really* powerful, although expensive. The Headbands are also a great buy; not only do they increase your HP over the previous hats, they also give you a physical attack boost. (You may want to keep your magick users with the Wizard's Hats, though, as those boost their *magick* power.) Now that you're in Chapter III, you can also buy X-Potions, so you'll want to learn the corresponding ability with any item-users you have. The Poachers' Dens are also now open. You can now use the Thief's "Poach" ability to poach enemies and get items from them at the Poachers' Den. Poached items are cheap; you can buy them for half their usual price! You can also get some rare items from poaching that you can't get anywhere else! Note, though, that Poachers' Dens are only found in Dorter and Warjilis, not other cities. (Sal Ghidos, which you'll reach in Chapter IV, also has a Poachers' Den.) For additional shopping opportunities, visit one of the castles, Lionel or Eagrose. There you can pick up the Ancient Sword, a strong sword that can also Immobilize enemies, the Mythril Bow, and some other stuff. The Fire Shield and Ice Shield absorb fire and ice, respectively, which lets you do a handy trick: Cast a fire or ice spell that targets both enemies and an ally with the shield -- you'll damage the enemies, AND heal your character! Not only does this let you get around the "friendly fire" effects when fighting in close quarters, it even replenishes your HP! All this new equipment is expensive, so luckily there's a whole slew of new errands, at least one in every town. If you're short on cash, I recommend spending a while completing them, buying stuff, and building up your characters. If you're offered any "contest" errand, take it right away, because you won't have the chance for very long. There are some abilities you'll need at the end of Chapter III that it's a good idea to start learning now. You don't need these abilities just yet, but if you build your characters towards those abilities now, you won't have to spend time grinding for them later. Specifically, Ramza MUST have Focus and Tailwind (both Squire), and Auto-Potion (Chemist). If you have the chance to unlock the Ninja job for him, that'll also help out a lot, although it's not strictly necessary. (It can be a bit of pain to unlock, though, as it requires Ramza to at least have Archer at level 4, Thief at level 5, and Geomancer at level 2.) For your other characters, acquiring the Dragoon or Ninja job on as many as characters as possible is helpful, but also not a must-have. Combining the Ninja's inherent speed and double attack with the Monk's Brawler ability makes for an incredibly strong and quick fighter. When you're ready to get on with the game, equip your team with gear that boosts their Move or Jump ranges. Safeguard may also be helpful. Then go up from Dorter, across the Zeklaus Desert, to the Mining Town of Gollund. There's a fight here where you have to rescue Orran (although I can't imagine he'd need much rescuing). Black Magick and Thieves are handy here. After you save Orran, you'll chat briefly, and then he'll head off to the south, sadly depriving you of his super-powerful Celestial Stasis spell. There's no new equipment in the Gollund shops, so just head straight on to Lesalia. There's no fight when you first get here, just a short chat with Zalbaag. However, as soon as you leave, you'll have to fight Zalmour. It's a pretty easy battle. Alma then joins up as a guest. When you have a chance, de-equip her Healing Staff, Barette, and Red Shoes. The Healing Staff and Barette are items you can't ever buy in shops, and the Red Shoes won't be available to purchase until much later. (It's safe to de-equip all her gear since, despite being a guest, she won't actually participate in any more battles.) The Healing Staff is an interesting "weapon" in that it actually restores HP to the character hit by it. Equipping it on a magick-oriented character can be quite useful since they probably won't be doing much fighting anyway and it gives you a free source of healing. If you want to complete some errands easily, you can take the ones at Gollund and Lesalia and then just walk back and forth until they're done. Before leaving this region, you can also stop at the store in Lesalia to buy new heavy armor. Then go down to Dorter; there's some new equipment here as well. In particular, the Jujitsu Gi is a great set of clothes for fighting-oriented characters as it also boots your physical atack power, and the Celebrant's Miter is a hat that boosts your MP. (You'll probably want to keep your fighters using the Headband for the attack boost.) Depending on what jobs you're using, there may be weapon upgrades as well. A more powerful gun, the Mythril Gun, is now available for sale. Since Goug is the only city that sells guns, though, you'll have to walk all the way down there if you want to buy it. (Note that the sea route between Goug and Warjilis has vanished as of Chapter III.) It's 2 points stronger and a stronger guns never appears in stores, so it's worth the trip if you didn't get the chance to steal them during the Gollund battle. Purchase anything you want, then head to Orbonne Monastery. Note that once you enter, you'll be locked into a series of three battles, so make sure that you're well stocked with supplies. You could also pick up a few of the Jade Armlet accessory, since they'll be helpful in an upcoming battle, but they're fairly expensive and not really necessary. At Orbonne Monastery, enter the Monastery Vaults (it's the only option available), where you'll find Simon wounded. He tells you about Funebris's plot, and Ramza chases after the troops looking for the Virgo Stone. You'll have a chance to save your game. All you'd have to repeat if you died is that short scene with Simon, but if you want to save, save in a separate slot since you're locked into a series of battle. The roster screen will come up, then you will go down to the second floor and have a fight. After beating the second floor, you have another save opportunity. Again, save in a slot separate from your main file. For the next battle, you may want to equip any accessories you have that boost your Jump statistic. After you leave the roster screen, you'll go to the third floor for another battle against Isilud. Upon winning it, there's yet another save point, and then the last of the three battles, this time with Wiegraf. This time, equip any Jade Armlets you have to protect yourself from his sword attacks. Afterwards, Isilud escapes with a friend and your Zodiac Stones captive. Outside, Wiegraf transforms in a rather frightening scene and Simon then shows up to give you the Scriptures of Germonique. Back on the map, go to the Chronicle option and check out your Artefacts. Examine the Scriptures of Germonique and press Triangle to read it. After you read it (which takes a while), go to Dorter. A mage will demand the Scriptures and ask if you've read them. It doesn't seem to matter what you say. When he leaves, the route to Riovanes Castle will open. Try to leave Dorter (just click anywhere on the map) and you'll see an FMV scene with Delita and Ovelia. After the scene concludes, go into Dorter and check out the shops, which once again have some new equipment. The Power Garbs are a great buy; they're good new clothes that also raise your attack power. And don't miss the White Robe for your magick-users; you'll have to scroll down through all the clothes to find it. However, you may want to keep your Headbands and Celebrant's Miters instead of buying Black Cowls, since the Cowls don't have any special stat boost. Similarly, the Diamond Shields are not an especially great shield since they don't have any elemental properties, nor the magick block rate of the Aegis Shield. There are also a few new errands available down at Lionel Castle and the Castled City of Zaland, as well as at Eagrose Castle. It's now time to head north to Riovanes. As you head up through the Zeklaus Desert, you'll run into a fixed battle. Deploy your characters, then there will be a CG scene, as Ramza jumps in to help Luso. Defeat the enemy Behemoths and Luso will join up. (Luso is the lead character from the Nintendo DS game Final Fantasy Tactics A2, not coming to North America until 2008 ... he's just moonlighting here :) .) He's basically a clone of Ramza, but he has an intrinsic Poach ability (no ability needs to be equipped for it). This makes him very handy for treasure hunting, especially during the monster-laden random battles. (Story battles, of course, contain mostly humans and Poach doesn't work on them.) On the other hand, you may want to de-equip Luso's Icebrand sword and give it to Agrias -- it will make her Holy Sword techniques extremely powerful! After helping out Luso, continue on up to Lesalia, where there is more new stuff (bows, daggers, and swords). Then continue to the Grogh Heights. Equip some accessories to boost your Jump and smash your way through here (I actually felt kind of bad killing those guys off) and you'll meet up with Orran again. You'll receive a Mythril Gun in spoils from the battle, so if you didn't bother to go to Goug to buy any Mythril Guns, equip this one now. Your next stop is the Walled City of Yardrow. Here you'll encounter Marach (the guy you met in Dorter) and Rapha. You have to save Rapha from Marach and the Riovanes soldiers. Deploy lots of healers and magick-users; skip the archers. After the fight, Rapha discusses her past. (Why the Grand Duke wants Rapha and Marach's powers so badly is one of FF Tactics's great unsolved mysteries ;) .) Marach, meanwhile, delivers a amphibian ultimatum. Rapha joins up as a guest for the next couple battles. She probably won't be all that helpful, though, since her Sky Mantra abilities only strike random tiles in their effect radius and can't be targeted too precisely. Before you leave Yardrow, stop at the Outfitter and pick up some better equipment for Rapha. But do NOT equip her with any "rare," non-buyable items like the Barette or Healing Staff; if you do, you'll lose them when Rapha goes from being a Guest into a regular character. There's also good gear for your magick users: the Gold Hairpins, which raise both your HP and MP a lot, and the Black Robe, which strengthens the power of any of your fire-, ice-, or lighting-elemental spells. (You may want to keep healers on the White Robe, since it's got elemental defenses and they don't need the offensive capability.) There are also some new accessories; pick up a pair of the speed-boosting Hermes Shoes for later use. The Bracer is also available. It's really expensive (50,000 gil), but it gives you a huge +3 attack boost, so buy one or two if you can afford them. When you leave town, there will be another Delita battle. It's a piece of cake. Back with Ramza's squad, if you want to do further shopping, you can go back down to Lesalia to buy new helmets, the Platinum Sword, and the Assassin's Dagger. If you have Ninjas, Samurais, or Dancers in the party, you may even want to trek all the way back to Dorter, as you will find new weapons for those three jobs there. When you've completed your shopping spree, fight through the Yuguewood and its undead inhabitants. Deploy Mustadio and his Seal Evil ability will make quick work of them. Don't go on to Riovanes Castle just yet. It contains some very powerful bosses, so you need to make sure you're prepared. For Ramza, you'll want the Focus and Tailwind Squire abilities, as well as Auto-Potion from Chemist. Buy a healthy stock (30+) of X-Potions. You'll also want at least one pair of Hermes Shoes and a Green Beret. (If you sold all your Green Berets, you can buy another one at Yardrow.) Also helpful are Jujitsu Gis and Chameleon Robes (both of which protect against instant KO) and Jade Armlets (protection against Stop), particularly if you want to try to learn Ultima at Riovanes as opposed to later. Since the Jade Armlets are pretty expensive, you may not want to bother buying them unless you're set on going for Ultima. (If you don't get Ultima now, you can also get it in Chapter IV.) Finally, if any characters are close to reaching the Dragoon or Ninja jobs, you may want to bring them up to those jobs, as they are quite helpful. Zeklaus Desert is a good place to level up if you need to earn more JP. When you think you're ready, save your game, then pay a visit to Riovanes Castle. You'll see a scene with Barrington and the Templars, then have a chance to save. Be SURE to save in a separate slot from your main game, so that you can get out of the castle if you need to go back and level more/buy stuff. If you save in your main slot, you may wind up STUCK and have to start again from scratch! You then go to the first of a series of three battles. Strip Rafa of all her equipment; if she gets taken out quickly in the upcoming battle, Marach will also disappear. Equip the Archer's Bane ability on any characters that have it. If you have someone with the Golem summon or the Dragoon ability Ignore Elevation, you'll definitely want to deploy those characters. Finally, equipping shields or capes for evasion may also be helpful. After you defeat everyone outside the gate, a wounded Knight will crawl out, warning of the Lucavi's rampage. Now, make sure you're prepared. You're about face a Zodiac-charged Wiegraf, and he is rather powerful. However, if you know what you're doing, he isn't that hard to beat. Turn Ramza into a Chemist and equip him with a Mythril Gun, then set his secondary ability to Mettle. Next, you need to drop all your Potions and Hi-Potions. On the roster screen, click on any character and go to Equipment. Choose View List, find your Potions and Hi-Potions and select Discard. Throw away ALL of them, so that you can only use X-Potions when Auto-Potion activates. Make as many other characters into Dragoons as possible. When you think you're set, close the party roster screen and you'll be thrust into a two-stage battle against Wiegraf. If you win both rounds of the battle, you'll go on to the last of this sequence of battles, on the roof. Be sure to save again. For this battle, make Ramza into a job with a high Speed stat (Ninja if available, otherwise Geomancer, Thief, or Monk), and equip him with a Green Beret and Hermes Shoes to boost his Speed as high as possible. Equipping the rest of the team with accessories boosting Speed or Move is helpful as well. You can also try to learn the Ultima spell during the rooftop battle. To do so, you'll need to deploy Luso (in his Game Hunter job), and equip the whole team with Jade Armlets and either Chameleon Robes or Jujitsu Gis. (Keep Ramza with the Hermes Shoes, though.) Or, if you took Alma's Barette, you can also equip that to protect a female character against both Stop AND KO. It's pretty challenging to learn Ultima here. There's another opportunity to learn the spell in Chapter IV where you don't have to contend with a suicidal Rapha and will have a much easier time. So, unless you really like a challenge, I would recommend waiting until Chapter IV. Anyway, after you (eventually) ward off Elmdore and his assassins, Rapha will use the Zodiac Stone to restore her family to a happy ending. You'll get your Zodiac Stones back, along with Wiegraf's Aries stone and Isilud's Pisces stone. Rapha and Marach will offer to join. You'll definitely want to take Rapha, as her low Bravery makes her ideal for using Treasure Hunter. Marach basically sucks, but if you don't have a full roster already, there's no harm in signing him up. He's pretty similar to Rapha in that his abilities strike random tiles. What's interesting is that they do more damage to enemies with LOW Faith, the reverse of most magick abilities. %%%CHAPTER IV: IN THE NAME OF LOVE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00walk4 Chapter IV picks up right where Chapter III left off. After a brief scene in Zeltennia Castle with Orlandeau and Orran, you'll be plopped back on the world map -- haven't seen that for a while, huh? -- outside Riovanes. Ramza's appearance has changed again, giving him the ability to equip knight's swords, powerful weapons that you'll start acquiring soon. He has also has a new ability available (Shout), so be sure to learn that. You'll note that Squire does not appear as a Mastered job even if you learn all the abilities -- that's because Ramza is missing the Ultima spell. If you managed to have Luso learn it back on the roof, you can now have him cast it on Ramza in any battle to teach it to Ramza. Otherwise, you'll have a chance to learn Ultima for both characters later on. Be sure to change back to your normal jobs if you're still altered from the fights in Riovanes Castle. While you're still at Riovanes, you can do a bit of equipment upgrading. There are new swords, shields, and armor available. If you visit Dorter, you can also buy new a ninja blade, katana, clothes (Gaia Gear), the Yagyu Darkroods shuriken, and the Angel Ring accessory. Pick up weapons you might need for you current jobs (and if you're using Throw, stock up on Darkroods). There are also a number of errands you can take in the various towns, but many of them aren't worth the time they take (and you sometimes LOSE money on them), so it's probably not worth the bother. Now that you're in Chapter IV, you can start accessing the game's side quests. First, assuming you still have Mustadio, you can head down to Goug to start the Gollund Colliery quest, which will net you two great new characters (Beowulf and Construct 8) as well as one OK one (Reis the Holy Dragon). This quest is covered in the Gollund Colliery section below -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00col to jump there. Second, you can also access the event to earn the Tynar Rouge accessory ... that is, IF you still have Mustadio, Agrias, Alicia, and Lavian on your team. It occurs on 1 Cancer, which follows the month of Gemini, which follows Taurus. So, if you're in Gemini or Taurus, keep your head up about that. See the Agrias's Birthday section below for the full scoop on how to complete that mission. If you don't complete these sidequests now, don't worry--they have no expiration date and you can always complete them later. You'll notice that a couple new routes have opened up from Riovanes: a shortcut back towards Eagrose Castle, and another down towards Dorter leading through the new Mount Bervenia location. You'll need to visit Mount Bervenia later if you're doing the Cloud Subquest, but there's not much to see there now. Instead, you'll want to head towards Zeltennia, where Ramza hopes to meet up with Delita in Zeltennia to discuss the Church's plot. Go up to the pass near Lesalia. This is a routine battle against the Order of the Southern Sky. Whip through here and continue on towards the Free City of Bervenia. Before you enter the town, equip the Safeguard ability on everybody who has it. Archer's Bane, Jump, and Ignore Elevation are also helpful. In Bervenia, you'll encounter -- and fight -- Isilud's sister Meliadoul, accompanied by some Summoners and Archers. She has some very useful pieces of equipment (the Defender knight's sword and the Chantage perfume), so you may want to deploy someone with Steal and try to snag them, especially the Chantage. (See the battle strategies for more tips on stealing.) If you don't get them here, there *are* other ways to get them, but it's certainly worth taking a shot and acquiring them here. When you win the battle against Meliadoul, she'll teleport away and you'll be able to visit the shops in town. The Outfitter doesn't have anything new, but if you were able to steal Meliadoul's Defender and/or Chantage, equip them. The Defender is the first knight's sword you will have come across, which can only be used a select few jobs (Knight, Dark Knight, plus Ramza's Squire job and Agrias's Holy Knight job are the only ones who can use it now.) When you first leave Bervenia, there will be another intermission with Delita and Ovelia. Move on to Finnath Creek for another battle. You may want to bring an Orator or someone else with Speechcraft and Beast Tongue as you may able to recruit a Pig here. Instant-KO attacks (e.g. the Black Mage's Death) or petrification attacks (the Mystic's Induration or Beowulf's Break) will also be helpful here. After crossing the creek, you can finally get to Zeltennia Castle. Ramza will go to the church, where he'll meet Delita again. In an FMV scene, Delita explains more of the church's plan. Zalmour then shows up, and it's fight time (did you really think you could go somewhere without one?). With Delita's help, it's quite easy. After the battle, you'll meet with Valmafra, then Delita will leave (bummer). Strangely, the shops *still* don't have anything new. However, you can now begin the subquest to recruit Balthier. It requires trekking back down to Gariland, so you can either do it now or just wait until you pass through that way a few battles later. For the full scoop on the Balthier quest, see the Recruiting Balthier section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00balt to jump down there. Restock your items; you'll need lots of X-Potions. You may also want to grab a couple Aegis Shields for any shield-using characters, if you don't already have some in your inventory. Then go to the Beddha Sandwaste, south of Bervenia. Here you'll encounter another Knight Templar, Barich, in a tough battle. To prepare yourself, you may want to equip White Robes and Aegis Shields to protect against enemy magic; deploying someone with the Esuna White Magick spell may also be helpful. This is one the last difficult encounters of the game, as pretty soon you... well, you'll see. After beating Barich (it may well take you a few tries), go to Fort Besselat. You'll have a choice as to whether to attack the south or north wall. Each is a different battle. I find that the south wall is easier, especially if you don't have characters with a good Jump rating. Still, a good Jump stat is useful for either battle, as is Archer's Bane. Whichever way you go, you'll end up at the floodgate. Save your game in a different slot, then continue. There's a second battle at the sluice. After Ramza blows up the sluice, he, Orran, and Valmafra will rescue Orlandeau. Orran goes back to Zeltennia to guard Ovelia, but Orlandeau THEN JOINS YOU! YAHOO!! If you just heard a giant sucking sound, it was all the challenge going down to Mexico (er, unless you live in Mexico, then it all went to Zimbabwe). Orlandeau is ridiculously powerful, and once you have him, hardly anyone in the game has a chance against you. He has all of Agrias's, Gaffgarion's, and Meliadoul's sword techniques, plus a full set of Crystal equipment and the Excalibur, the latter of which gives him a permanent Haste. He can also use every type of sword (katana, knight's sword, etc.). To put it simply, he is hell on wheels. Meanwhile, Delita advances his power. A cutscene pops up instructing you to go to Limberry. A handy new path now opens up between Fort Besselat and Zeirchele Falls. If you didn't already recruit Balthier, now is a great time to hike over to Gariland and begin that quest. (Again, see the Recruiting Balthier section below for the full scoop.) Your next stop is the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. On the way, stop in at Zeltennia. Finally, there's new equipment for sale! Aside from one hat that becomes available after Limberry, the gear here and at Sal Ghidos is the last round of equipment upgrades you can find in stores. There's better equipment out there, of course, but you have to steal or find it; you can't buy it. There's no point in holding back on upgrading, but save 50,000 - 75,000 gil or so for some accessories you'll need for the next arc. At Zeltennia, you'll find a new knife, sword, crossbow, polearm, shield, helm, armor, and the Featherweave Cloak accessory. Note that there are two new sets of armor available: the Crystal Mirror, which is a "regular" set of armor, and the Mirror Mail, which gives the character a permanent Reflect (basically the same as a Reflect Ring, but it doesn't take up your accessory slot :) ). This reflects enemy spells, but it also reflects your own cure spells or buffs. If you only use items to heal, though, the Reflect effect can be useful. At your next stop, the Trade City of Sal Ghidos, you'll run into what is probably a familiar face ... it's Aerith! Choose the SECOND option to buy a flower from her; you'll need to do so if you want to complete all the subquests. Be careful not to speed through the text and choose the first option by mistake! Once you have the flower, you can complete the Nelveska Temple quest (again, covered below in the subquests section), though this also requires you to have finished the Gollund Colliery quest first. The Nelveska Temple nets you one character upgrade, as well as the chance to acquire some rare items via the Treasure Hunter ability. Completing the Nelveska Temple in turn opens the Recruiting Cloud quest, which lets you recruit Cloud from Final Fantasy VII into your party. If you accidentally do NOT buy the flower, however, you'll miss out on your chance on complete these quests. After meeting with Aerith at Sal Ghidos, head into town (yup, there's no fight). There's yet more new equipment! Will the wonders never cease? Be sure to stop in for an upgrade. You can get new knives, katanas, polearms, poles, clothes, and hats. There's also the new Luminous Robe, although it doesn't have any special bonuses, so if you're using Black Magick, you may prefer to keep the Black Robe for its offensive bonuses. Before you leave, you'll want to have a good selection of equipment to protect yourself against the status conditions you'll face at Limberry. Jujitsu Gis and Jade Armlets are especially helpful, as they protect against the KO and Stop conditions that Celia and Lettie throw at you, and Protect Rings will defend against Sleep and Doom. You may also want to pick up a Nu Khai Armband or two for male characters; these protect against Charm. There are also a couple of new errands. Since Zeltennia and Sal Ghidos are right next to each other, you can easily clear the errands in either town (as well as in Bervenia) just by walking back and forth between them. They may help you out if you need to earn a little cash to buy stuff, though, in many cases, they're just as likely to lose you money as to earn you it. If you still need more money, you could complete the next two story battles (en route to Limberry), then come back to Sal Ghidos to shop with the bonus gil you received. Pop on down to Mount Germinas, where you'll have a run-in with some bandits. With Orlandeau in your party, this battle is a breeze. There is one unique item here, which you can obtain either during the story battle or a random battle. It's the Invisibility Cloak, a cloak that (as you might expect) automatically makes you invisible. To get the cloak, first save the game; then equip someone with Treasure Hunter ability and move him/her to the top of the mountain. You'll receive either an Ether or the cloak; the LOWER your Bravery, the HIGHER your chances of getting the cloak. (Rapha is good for this because she has a pretty low Bravery.) If you get the Ether, you lose your shot at getting the cloak, so you'll have to reset and try again. There's no time limit on attempting to get the cloak (as long as you don't search and get an Ether), so if you don't have a good Move/Jump range or if your Bravery is too low, you can skip it for now and come back later. After Mount Germinas, you'll go to Lake Poescas. This is another undead scenario, but it's really easy. As always, Mustadio and (if you have him) Balthier are good for petrifying the undead. You then see a scene with Dycedarg, after which you can go to Limberry Castle. There's a sequence of four battles at Limberry Castle; as usual, you'll want to save in a different slot between them, so that you don't lock yourself in. The first battle is at the gate (isn't it always?). You'll be fighting Celia and Lettie again, so equipping your anti-Stop/KO/Charm gear is essential. The battle is pretty easy, but it's your best chance to learn Ultima. To do so, just make Ramza into a Squire before the battle and he'll learn the spell when Celia or Lettie casts it on him. (Luso can also learn the spell, but it's probably easiest to just have Ramza learn it here and then later teach it to Luso by having Ramza cast it on him.) After winning the gate battle, you'll see a story scene with Elmdore and Folmarv. Keep your status protection gear equipped for the next battle. If Ramza already learned Ultima, you can switch him back to his regular job now; otherwise, you'll have a second chance in this next battle. The second battle is against Elmdore, Celia, and Lettie in the keep. If you're looking for revenge from the Riovanes Castle Roof, now's your chance -- but look out, Elmdore is still pretty darn tough, and nearly impossible to hit. Check the battle strategies if you need help beating him. After defeating Elmdore in the keep, you can return your equipment to normal as you won't have to fight Celia and Lettie any more. Next up is the courtyard, you'll have to square off against an old "friend." Deploying someone who can inflict Disable status (e.g. Mustadio, Balthier, Beowulf, or an Oracle) is particularly important for this battle. Finally, you'll proceed down to the basement for the last battle in this sequence and your last encounter with Elmdore -- now in Lucavi form. Equipping Protect Rings beforehand will help guard against some of the status attacks he uses on you. Meliadoul will also help you out here. After you defeat Elmdore for the last time, you'll collect two more Zodiac Stones--Elmdore's Gemini stone and Meliadoul's Sagittarius stone--and Meliadoul will offer to join you. Although she's not quite as powerful as Orlandeau (Orlandeau has all her sword techniques, plus more!), her sword techniques are still pretty good ... and, unlike in the PSone version, they work on monsters! She also has a pretty high Faith, so she's good with magick too. She comes equipped with the Save the Queen knight's sword; if you don't plan on using her, give this sword to someone else as it's probably stronger than anything else you have save the Excalibur. Limberry Castle is now a normal town, so you can go to the Tavern and Outfitter (although there's nothing new at the shop). When you try to leave, you'll see a long set of story scenes with Ovelia and then with Zalbaag. Now take a look at map. You'll note Eagrose Castle has turned red. It's time to hike all the way back there. A new wilderness location has opened up west of Limberry: Dorvauldar Marsh. Although nothing story-related happens here and you never *have* to visit, it provides a handy shortcut between Limberry and Fort Besselat. As you make your way back to Eagrose, stop in at a non-castle town. You can now buy Thief's Caps, the last piece of new equipment that the shops will carry. If you don't have any Nu Khai Armbands, you'll also want to acquire a set of those for an upcoming battle. If you step into Dorter on the way back to Eagrose, you'll have an extra battle against Cletienne, another of Folmarv's henchmen. Meliadoul automatically participates as a guest in this battle, so be sure to equip her accordingly. Alternately, you can avoid this battle entirely if you go to Bervenia and head west along the northern coast ... but this is such a long and circuitous route that you're likely to have more random battles than you save by avoiding Cletienne. (Note that the Cletienne battle will also not trigger if you never admitted into Meliadoul into your party or if she has already been killed or fired.) When you finally do reach Eagrose, Ramza will open the gate (no gate battle, yay!), and then you'll line up for a fight. For an easy victory, deploy Agrias, Orlandeau, and Meliadoul. You'll fight a two-stage battle against another Lucavi, Adrammelech. When killed, he will yield the Capricorn Zodiac Stone. Now that you've defeated Adrammelech, many towns around the map have new errands to complete. But to get on with the game, go to Gariland. Stock up on Holy Water and take the new route south to Mullonde. At Mullonde, you'll be treated to a series of battles, beginning outside the church (not that hard), and progressing inside, where you'll face off against Folmarv, Loffrey, and Cletienne. Equip Safeguard here since Loffrey likes to break your equipment. The three Knights Templar will teleport away after you beat on them for a while. If any of your equipment got broken in this battle, you'll need to replace it; strip the gear from somebody you're not going to be using in the next battle. You'll then go to the sanctuary, where Ramza will have to fight a possessed former ally. This is the last of the sequence of the battles at Mullonde; afterwards, Ramza will meet up with a dying Funebris, who tells him that Folmarv is going to Orbonne Monastery. Back on the map, a handy route has opened up between Mullonde and the Clockwork City of Goug. Another set of subquests becomes available: Midlight's Deep in Warjilis Trade City, Disorder in the Order (in Zeltennia and Dorter), and (if you've already completed the Nelveska Temple quest) Lionel's New Liege Lord. And if you're still working on the earlier subquests, the new route between Mullonde and Goug makes them a lot easier. If you're going to do these quests or anything else on the map, take care of it now! Once you go to Orbonne Monastery, you're locked into the game's final series of battles. Before you go to Orbonne, make sure you're ready. Your main team of characters should be at least level 40. Equip yourself with all your best abilities, and change to your best jobs. Earning JP doesn't matter now. In truth, the last sequence of battles isn't all that difficult, just long. You may also want to buy a couple pairs of Winged Boots since they'll be helpful in one of the upcoming battles. Definitely purchase some Thief's Caps if you haven't already. !!!CAUTION!!! Once you enter Orbonne, there is NO way to return to the world map. If you want to be able to continue playing the game on the world map, you must keep a save from before you entered the Monastery. Once you enter the Monastery, save in a DIFFERENT slot. !!!CAUTION!!! The first battle at Orbonne is against some generic enemies -- an easy battle. Afterwards, you'll move on to the fifth for the next battle. Beforehand, ready your Safeguard abilities to protect yourself from Crush attacks. Equipping Winged Boots or the Jump +x and Fly abilities will also help you navigate the pit-laden terrain. On the fifth level, you'll face the first of a series of four battles against the Zodiac Braves. First up is Loffrey. After you defeat him, he'll suck you through a portal to the Necrohol of Mullonde (of no apparent relation to Mullonde Cathedral), then destroy the way back. Return your abilities and equipment to normal. Your next opponent is Cletienne. After that, you'll face Barich, brought back to life by the Zodiac Stones. This can be a pretty tough fight; deploying long-range attackers is a good idea and you'll probably want to equip Thief's Caps to keep Barich from Immobilizing or Disabling you. Finally, you'll head to the Airship Graveyard, which is really just a single airship, and a rather odd location for a final battle. Folmarv will use the Leo Stone to transform him into a giant lion, Hashmal. You may want to equip your Jade Armlets again for this battle since he likes to cast Stop on you. Defeat him and you'll get the Ragnarok sword. St. Ajora will then appear. You now have one last chance to save your game and adjust your characters. Equip the Ragnarok sword. It's strong but not quite as useful as the Excalibur, since it doesn't give you an automatic Haste. But if you have two characters who can use knight's swords (Knights, Dark Knights, and many of the special jobs), you can give the Ragnarok to the second one Another Alma will somehow appear. Ajora then summons four Ultima Demons in response, then transforms into Ultima. Alma will join you as a guest for the final battle, against the Generic Angel Boss (TM). After pounding on Ultima for a while, Ultima will (of course) reveal his/her/its (?) true form, a skeletony-type of angel. Thankfully, the Ultima Demons disappear for this phase of the battle. When you defeat Ultima's second form, it will blow up (nice special effects). The Battle Is Won! Leave the game on after the credits for an additional scene. Note that when the game says it's saving afterwards, it's just doing so to unlock some of the multiplayer missions. If you saved at any point during the final sequence of battles (i.e., any time after you entered Orbonne Monastery), loading this save will only put you back into the last set of battles and doesn't allow you back to the world map. So, again, if you want to do anything outside of the Necrohol, hang on to a separate save from before you entered Orbonne Monastery! If you haven't beaten Midlight's Deep and all the other subquests, you're not done yet! Keep on reading for information on those quests. ******************************************************************************* IV. WALKTHROUGH - SUBQUESTS 00sub ******************************************************************************* Final Fantasy Tactics boasts a number of optional subquests, all of which become available at various points in Chapter IV. In addition, some of the subquests require you to have completed other subquests first. Specific requirements for each quest are listed with the walkthroughs below, but I've also provided this cheesy ASCII chart to demonstrate how they flow together. Agrias's Birthday --------> Recruiting Cloud (beginning of Chapter IV) / / Gollund Colliery ----------> Nelveska Temple (beginning of Chapter IV) (after Fort \ Besselat) \ ------> Lionel's New Liege Lord Recruiting Balthier (after Mullonde) (after Zeltennia Castle battle) Disorder in the Order (after Mullonde) Midlight's Deep (after Mullonde) Walkthroughs for the quests are below. Battle strategies for the battles encountered within these quests can be found in the Subquest Battle Strategies section -- press Ctrl+F and enter 00bssub to jump there. %%%AGRIAS'S BIRTHDAY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00agr QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Tynar Rouge A pair of Agrias-related subquests become available in Chapter IV. The first one allows you to obtain the Tynar Rouge, a good accessory for female characters (if not *quite* as abusive as the Chantage). To trigger the scene in which you acquire the Tynar Rouge, you must move onto a TOWN or CITY (NOT a castle) on the world map on the date of 1 Cancer, which is Agrias's birthday. In addition, you must also meet these other requirements: - Agrias, Mustadio, Alicia, and Lavian must still be alive and on your roster. - You must have at least 500,000 gil in your War Funds. Only 50,000 of this will be spent as part of the quest, but you must have 500,000 available. - You must be in Chapter IV. (This event can be completed at any point during Chapter IV, though.) Assuming you meet the above requirements, if you move onto a town (again, a castle will NOT work), on 1 Cancer, you'll see a scene in which Mustadio buys Agrias the Tynar Rouge lip rouge for her birthday. The 50,000 gil cost of the rouge will be subtracted from your War Funds. It's worth the expense, though, as the Tynar Rouge is a great accessory. It can be equipped by any female character (not just Agrias) and grants a permanent Shell, Protect, and Haste, as well as a bonus to your attack and magick strength. 1 Cancer follows after 32 Gemini. The easiest way to ensure that you land on a city or town on that date is to simply move back and forth between Gollund Coal City and Lesalia. Both of these count as towns, so you're guaranteed to land on a town on 1 Cancer. If you somehow miss the date and don't end up on a town on 1 Cancer, don't worry; the event never "expires." You can just wait until all the months cycle through and try again the next time 1 Cancer comes up, as long as you still meet the requirements listed above. (Fortunately, the villains are more than happy to postpone their plans of world domination while you spend a year shopping for makeup.) %%%GOLLUND COLLIERY%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00col QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: At beginning of Chapter IV REWARDS: Beowulf, Reis [Holy Dragon], and Construct 8 join the party In the Gollund Colliery quest, you'll recruit three new characters: Beowulf, Reis (in dragon form), and Construct 8. It's the first in a series of three quests, also leading into the Nelveska Temple and Cloud quests. To complete ANY of these quests, you must have Mustadio still around, so don't dismiss him or let him get killed! To start the quest, once Chapter IV begins, go to the Clockwork City of Goug. Besrudio, Mustadio's father, will show you an iron sphere he's found. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to repeat it.) Now go to the Mining Town of Gollund, in the center of the map. At the Tavern in Gollund, listen to the rumor "The Haunted Mine." You will be asked to fight a monster in the coal mines. Leave the bar. Nothing will happen at first, but go north to Lesalia. Ramza will automatically go into the tavern and learn more about the coal mine job. He agrees to take it. On the way out, Beowulf will stop you and ask you to take him with you. Choose the second option to sign him up and he joins you as a Guest. (If you choose the first option and reject his assistance, the quest will end and you'll be permanently locked out of it!) You'll note that the Mining Town of Gollund has turned red. First, equip Mystic Arts as Beowulf's second ability, since he already has a bunch of Mystic Arts spells learned. Go back into Lesalia and check at the Outfitter's; depending on how far you are through Chapter IV, you may be able to buy Beowulf some better equipment. Equipment that protects you against ice will be especially helpful in the upcoming battles, so you may want to pick up some Ice Shields or White Robes if you don't have any in your inventory. (You'll have to go to a non-castle town to buy the robes.) You'll also need some NON-ice weapons, so if your only swords are Icebrands, get something else for this quest. Save your game--there's an extended series of battles coming up--and return to Gollund, where you'll be forced into entering the Gollund Colliery. You have to fight through three areas in the snow. Equipping your anti-ice gear will protect you well against the ice attacks you'll face. After the three battles, you'll reach the Coal Shaft. The monsters here are actually WEAK against ice, so strip off your anti-ice gear and equip any Icebrands you have. In the Coal Shaft, the Holy Dragon Reis is being attacked by an Archaeodemon. You have to save her. After this battle, you'll get the Aquarius Zodiac Stone, and Reis and Beowulf will offer to join you. Sign them both up as you need them for later quests. (Be sure to keep them alive, too!) Reis, particularly while she's still stuck in dragon form, is not that great, but Beowulf IS. In particular, shoot for learning his Vengeance and Chicken abilities. Chicken does a HUGE drop on enemy Bravery and frequently turnes them into a helpless chicken, while Vengeance is a potent attack with a long range. Now that you've got the Aquarius Stone, return to Goug. You will put in the Aquarius stone in the iron sphere, which transforms into Construct 8. A comical scene will follow, and then another new character, Construct 8, joins you. Construct 8 is more like a monster in that it can't change jobs, but it's super-strong anyway. It has a long-range laser attack, an inherent Counter, and is basically impervious to magick and most (though not all) status conditions. Sign it up for sure! On the way out of Goug, if you've progressed sufficiently far in the game, you'll get another scene in which Besrudio puts together another device that requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. If you've finished up Fort Besselat, you can now begin the Nelveska Temple quest, below. %%%RECRUITING BALTHIER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00balt QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After completing battle at Zeltennia Castle REWARDS: Balthier joins the party, Ras Algethi gun, Mirage Vest Balthier from Final Fantasy XII makes an appearance as an optional cameo character you can sign up for your team. Any time after completing the battle at Zeltennia Castle in Chapter IV, visit the Magick City of Gariland and enter the Tavern. Read the "Rash of Thefts" rumor. Now, go east to Dorter and visit the Taven there. Read the new rumor here ("A Call for Guards") that will have appeared if you read the rumor at Gariland. It seems like nothing has happened, but return to the map and try to leave Dorter. You'll get into kicked into a battle (though not without a lengthy FMV intro to Balthier first). Balthier will help you out here as a guest. You can check the Other Subquests section of the battle strategies if you need help, but it should be really be pretty easy. Afterwards, you can sign Balthier up for your team. He's basically a combination of Mustadio (he has all of Mustadio's Aimed Shot abilities) and a Thief, with one unique ability of his own: Barrage. Barrage allows him to attack four times in a row for 1/2 damage each time, essentially allowing you to do double damage. His "Plunder" abilities are also a little better than regular Stealing; when it comes to stealing equipment, a Plunder is 10 percentage points more likely to succeed than a Steal. (So, if a Steal would have, say, a 36% success rate, Plunder will have a 46% success rate, for instance.) Balthier also comes equipped with a Ras Algethi gun and Mirage Vest, two items you can't find anywhere else! Both are quite strong, so if you don't plan on using Balthier, you should at least give his gear to someone else. %%%NELVESKA TEMPLE%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00nel QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After clearing Fort Besselat and completing Gollund Colliery quest REWARDS: Reis returns to human form, various items found with Treasure Hunter In order to begin the Nelveska Temple quest, you must first have finished the battles at Fort Besselat in the main storyline, as well as having completed the Gollund Colliery quest above. (Beowulf and Reis the Holy Dragon must also still be on your team.) When you first reach the Trade City of Sal Ghidos during the main storyline, you'll be asked to buy a flower for 1 gil from Aerith. Make sure you choose the SECOND option to buy the flower. You'll need to buy this flower in order to continue with the quest. If you fail to buy the flower when asked, it seems that you do NOT have a second chance to get it, which means that you unfortunately can't continue with this quest :( Once you've got the flower, go down to Goug and you'll see a scene where Besrudio presents another device unearthed from the tunnels; this one requires the Cancer Zodiac Stone. (If you've already seen this scene, you don't need to go back to Goug.) Now go back up to Zeltennia Castle. Go to the tavern and listen to the "Cursed Isle of Nelveska" rumor. This will open up a new path on your map from Zeltennia to Nelveska Temple. Although you can open up the route to Nelveska as soon as you reach Zeltennia, in order to actually trigger the battle there, you must have seen the scene at Goug where Besrudio presents his weathervane-like device. The battle at Nelveska Temple contains a number of rare items that can be found using Treasure Hunter. These items include a super-powered Javelin and Escutcheon as well as the Sasuke's Blade ninja blade and the goofy Nagnarok sword. The Javelin II and Escutcheon II are especially worth picking up (and the Escutcheon II isn't available anywhere else!). You only have this one chance to get them, as there are no random battles at Nelveska Temple. Of course, you certainly don't NEED any of these items and they can be tricky to get, so it's up to you as to whether you want to try for them. If you do want to get the items, you'll need to have a LOW Bravery -- the higher your Treasure Hunter's Bravery, the higher the odds of getting a crummy item instead. Rapha is great for this purpose since her Bravery already starts pretty low. For the best odds, though, you'll want to lower it even further. The best way to do this is probably with the Orator ability Intimidate; for every 5 points you change her Bravery during the battle, she'll lose 1 point permanently. (You could also use the Oracle's Trepidation for a bigger drop.) Be careful not to reduce her permanent Bravery TOO low, though, or she will quit the party (so using Beowulf's Chicken may not be a good idea). 15 to 20 is probably a safe number. Whether you're planning on looking for the items or not, you'll probably want to buy some Gold Needle or Remedies before you leave town for the coming battle, or equip Jade Armlets -- the Cockatrices at the temple can turn you to stone. Go to Nelveska and you'll be attacked by Construct 7. This is the one battle here, so search for the hidden items if you want, or just take down Construct 7. (See the battle strategies for tips both on the fight and on successfully retrieving the items.) When Construct 7 explodes, you'll get its power source: the Cancer Zodiac Stone. When you try to leave Nelveska Island, Beowulf will use the Cancer stone to restore the dragon Reis to her normal human form. She will then re-join your party, keeping all her dragon abilities and adding many new ones she can learn. Even in human form, her Dragonkin job can use very little equipment (just hair adornments, bags, and some accessories), but she has an inherent Dual Wield and killer stats. If you now return the Cancer Stone to Besrudio, he'll summon Cloud ... but you won't be able to go any further to recruit him onto the team unless you've already defeated Adrammelech in the main storylie. (See Recruiting Cloud, below.) If you've gone even further and cleared Mullonde in the main storyline, you can also embark on the Lionel's New Liege Lord quest. %%%RECRUITING CLOUD%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00cloud QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: Immediately after completing Nelveska Temple quest REWARDS: Cloud joins the party You can get Cloud any time after you complete Ford Besselat. In order to get him, you must first complete the Gollund Colliery quest, followed by the Nelveska Temple quest, both described above. You'll also still need Mustadio around. Having completed both of these quests, hike all the way back to Goug. (If you've finished the battles at Mullonde, you'll have a handy shortcut.) Besrudio will power up the weathervane with the Cancer Stone and it will ... summon Cloud. Cloud, in typical Cloud fashion, will refuse to let you introduce yourselves and run off in pursuit of Sephiroth. Now you have to go all the way to the Trade City of Sal Ghidos. Remember when you met Aerith here earlier? Well, she's back, and this time she's being accosted by some thieves. Cloud comes to save her, but has another one of his schizophrenic breakdowns. You have to save him from the thieves. This is quite an easy battle, although you may want to equip Safeguard beforehand so the Thieves can't steal any of your gear. Afterwards, Clod... er, Cloud will join you. You're still not totally finished with this quest. In order for Cloud to be able to use his Limit attacks, you need to find his Materia Blade. The Blade is found using the Treasure Hunter ability on Mount Bervenia. The easiest method is to go to Riovanes Castle and just move back and forth between Riovanes and Mount Bervenia until you get into a random battle. Once you're in battle, move your Treasure Hunter to the very tippy-top of the volcano to discover the Materia Blade. You'll need a Jump at least of 4 to reach the volcano top -- equip Germinas Boots if you need a boost. Unlike the other rare items found with Treasure Hunter, this one doesn't depend on your Bravery. You'll always receive the Materia Blade on this tile, regardless of your Bravery; there's no chance of getting the wrong thing. Once you've secured the Materia Blade, finish off the rest of the enemies to end the battle. (If you end the battle by mistake before getting the Blade, just start up another battle; the Blade never disappears until you find it.) If you're having a hard time getting your Treasure Hunter up to the top during the battle, one strategy is to kill off all but one enemy, and then use Beowulf's Chicken ability to turn the last enemy into a chicken. This leaves you free to spend as much time as needed navigating the volcano. Equipping Cloud with the Materia Blade allows him to use his Limit command, although you still have to learn all the Limit abilities individually. Honestly, Cloud isn't really all that great a character, in my estimation -- his Limits take a long time to charge (you'll probably want to give him the Time Mage's Swiftness ability), and he starts back at level 1. %%%DISORDER IN THE ORDER%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00dis QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles REWARDS: Lots of stealable equipment The second of two Agrias-related quests, this quest becomes available late in Chapter IV, after you win the battles at Mullonde Cathedral. You do NOT have to have completed the other Agrias quest (Agrias's Birthday) to access it. First, after clearing the Cathedral, make tracks for Zeltennia Castle, in the upper right corner of the map. As long as Agrias is still with you, when you reach Zeltennia, you'll see a scene in which Agrias meets with Ovelia and sets up an important later plot point. (If Alicia and Lavian are still around, they'll also participate in this scene, but they're not required.) Nothing else happens here, but you now head to the Magick City of Gariland. and hit up the Tavern. If you saw the above, there will be a new rumor, "Disorder in the Order." Listen to it. Now, if you head back to the Brigands' Den south of Mandalia Plain, you'll get into a battle against some deserts from the Order of the Northern Sky. Agrias functions as a Guest in this battle. Be SURE to bring a character who can steal, as there are a lot of great rare items you can get here. (Balthier may be particularly useful, since his Plunder skills a little bit more likely to succeed than regular Steals.) While none of the stealable items are available ONLY in this battle, it's a chance to grab second copies of some items you can't buy in stores. The extra Venetian Shield and Kaiser Shield you can get here are particularly handy, and you can also get more magick guns, a Sasuke's Blade, and Ninja Gear and a Barette. If you bring Orlandeau along, you can also see a few extra lines of dialogue. The actual battle should be fairly easy. Nothing special happens when you clear it--it's mostly just an avenue for stealing a lot of great items :) %%%LIONEL'S NEW LIEGE LORD%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00lio QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles AND completing Gollund Colliery quest REWARDS: Genji Armor, Zeus Mace, Sortile'ge, stealable Masamune and Chantage, Hydrascale Bag, other equipment To begin the new Beowulf subquest, you must first complete the Nelveska Temple quest. At this point, you will have recruited Beowulf and Reis and returned Reis to human form. Beowulf and Reis must also still be alive and on your roster. (It's not necessary to do to the quest to recruit Cloud or get his Materia Blade.) You also have to completed the battle against Zalbaag at Mullonde in the main storyline. Finally, to activate the quest, you have to have read the "Lionel's New Liege Lord" rumor that appears in Taverns partway during Chapter IV. This can be done before or after you recruit Beowulf and Reis. The main purpose of this quest is to acquire the Masamune and Genji Armor, as well as a few other goodies. This quest, of course, takes place at Lionel Castle. As soon as you visit Lionel Castle after meeting the requirements above, you're thrown into the quest, so you'll want to prepare first. Make sure you have a character able to steal, as this subquest gives you a chance to steal a Masamune and a Chantage. When you reach Lionel Castle, you'll see a story scene and Reis will be spirited away. You're given a chance to save and adjust your roster before being booted into battle. (Since Reis is presently kidnapped, you won't be able to select her as part of your team for this battle.) Note that Beowulf functions as a guest in this subquest. If he's KOed in the first battle, you lose, so be sure to equip with some decent armor and/or a shield and deploy a healer. (In thesecond battle, it doesn't matter if he's KOed.) The bosses here have Safeguard, which renders them immune to Meliadoul's Unyielding Blade attacks, so you probably won't want to deploy her unless she has some good other abilities. You'll fight a sequence of two battles at Lionel. The first is against Beowulf's old pal Aliste. When you win here, you'll get the Genji Armor, the second strongest suit of armor in the game. You'll have another chance to save and adjust your team -- so equip that Genji Armor -- before moving on to the second battle, against Bremondt himself. Be sure to deploy your stealing character here, as one of the enemy samurai has the Masamune and this is the by far the best place to get it. (See the battle strategies for more info.) When Bremondt goes down, you'll receive a Zeus Mace, a very nice staff, for your efforts. (There's a second Zeus Mace in Midlight's Deep, but it doesn't hurt to have two!) Beowulf and Reis are reunited, and in gratitude for all your help, Beowulf hands over all his treasure, including a Gold Hairpin, a Hydrascale Bag, a pair of Hermes Shoes, a Diamond Bracelet, and the Sortile'ge perfume. You're now prompted to add Beowulf and Reis back into your roster, and this subquest is now complete! %%%MIDLIGHT'S DEEP%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%00md QUEST BECOMES AVAILABLE: After Mullonde battles REWARDS: Numerous rare items, Zodiark summon, the Byblos joins the party Midlight's Deep is a dungeon with ten floors (each a separate battle), each packed with really powerful equipment. It's completely optional, and in fact is more difficult than the actual end of the game. You can only access Midlight's Deep after you beat Mullonde Holy Place. Then go to the Port City of Warjilis. When you arrive, you'll automatically see a scene in the tavern in which Ramza overhears a rumor about the Deep. (Fans of the original PSone version of FF Tactics may get a kick out of some of the dialogue here.) When you leave town, a route will automatically pop up to the tiny island to the east, which contains Midlight's Deep, a ten-floor bonus dungeon. To enter Midlight's Deep, move to the island. Then, click on Midlight's Deep a second time. Choose the floor you want to enter. (At the beginning, only the first floor will be accessible, but you'll open up more as you progress.) ---General Instructions-------------------------------------------------------- BATTLES IN THE DEEP Midlight's Deep battles are basically considered random battles, which means that the exact line-up of enemies changes each time. It also means that you don't have to deploy Ramza. The exception is the initial encounter on the last floor, which has a fixed set of enemies AND requires Ramza to be deployed. NAVIGATING THE DARKNESS To make things challenging, every floor of Midlight's Deep is completely dark. You can see your team and the enemies, but you can't see the terrain. Crystals left by dead enemies will light up much of the area, but there's another way to see. Select an attack with a really long range, like a gun attack, Beowulf's Vengeance, Construct 8's Dispose, or best of all, Teleport (which lights up the *whole* map). When you're choosing a target, most of the panels on the battlefield will be highlighted, giving you a chance to study the terrain. You don't even have to USE the selected attack, just select it, look at the map, and then cancel back to the menu. Since you can do this every round, you shouldn't have too much trouble seeing what you're doing. FINDING THE EXITS But not only do you have to beat the enemies on each level, you ALSO have to find the exit to open up the next level. If you kill all the enemies without finding the exit, you'll just be kicked back to the map screen and have to replay the level before you can advance. To find the exit, you simply have to move a character onto the tile that contains the exit, at which point you'll get a message telling you that you "found a passage leading deeper." Once you finish off the remaining enemies and return to the map, you'll be able to select the next floor. You do NOT need the Treasure Hunter ability to find the exits. To make things tricky, the exit is RANDOMLY placed on one of several possible tiles -- so you don't know where it is! But, the exit is usually on the enemy's side of the battlefield, and often in a corner. Not always, though. Rmemeber, the battle ends when you KO the last enemy, and if you didn't find the exit, you'll have to replay the level. So, you need to find the exit BEFORE you KO that last enemy. The easiest way to do this is to KO all but one enemy, then use Beowulf's Chicken spell on the last one to turn it into a chicken. (If the enemy has 60 or more Bravery, you'll have to use Chicken twice before it actually turns into a chicken.) Once the last enemy is a harmless chicken, it's easy to walk around the level and look for the exit. Chicken lasts for quite a while, but each turn the enemy gets 1 point of Bravery back, and when it has 10 Bravery, the Chicken spell will wear off. But, if you always recast Chicken when it's close to wearing off, you can keep the enemy a chicken forever :). Of course, you don't HAVE to use the Chicken trick to find the exit -- it just makes it a lot easier. While you do need to find the exits to advance, there's no obligation to find the exit on your first visit. If the battle gets rough, it's fine to just finish off the enemies and forget about finding the exit. You can look for it on your next visit. Also, once you've found a floor's exit once, you never need to look for it again. So, if you return to a previous floor to hunt for items or poach monsters, you don't need to worry about looking for the exit. ACQUIRING THE RARE ITEMS But wait! There's more! Each level contains a number of rare items that you can find using the Treasure Hunter ability. Simply move a character with Treasure Hunter onto the correct tile and a new item is yours. If a character without Treasure Hunter steps on the tile, you'll often spring a trap instead, but the item remains there, waiting for a character with Treasure Hunter. (Note that even once the item is picked up, any trap on the tile remains there, and then even a Treasure Hunter can spring it.) As with most rare Treasure Hunter finds, you need a LOW Bravery level to pick up the special item. The higher your Bravery, the higher your chance you'll get a crummy Phoenix Down instead. (The chance of getting the Phoenix Down is simply equal to the character's current Bravery -- so a lower Bravery decreases your chance of getting it.) If you DO pick up the Phoenix Down, the "good" item is gone forever, even if you leave the map and come back later. So, if you want to get all the items, you may want to save pretty frequently and only try picking up one or two items at a time. That way, it's easy to reset and try again if you don't get the item you want. Rapha is great for finding the items because her Bravery already starts pretty low. For the best odds, though, you'll want to lower it even further. The best way to do this is probably with the Orator ability Intimidate; for every 5 points you change her Bravery during the battle, she'll lose 1 point permanently. (You could also use the Oracle's Trepidation for a bigger drop.) Be careful not to reduce her permanent Bravery TOO low, though, or she will quit the party--so using Beowulf's Chicken may not be a good idea. 15 to 20 is probably a safe number and will give you some margin of error in case she gets with a Bravery-lowering ability during a battle. To make Rapha (or whomever you're using as a Treasure Hunter) more mobile, give her Germinas Boots to increase her move and jump range. If available, you can also switch her to an agile job like Thief, Dragoon, or Monk. If you're having trouble with Rapha getting KOed quickly, try equipping her with the Invisibility Cloak found on Mount Germinas (see Various Tricks). This cloak causes her to start the battle invisible. As long as she doesn't take any action and just moves around the battlefield looking for items and exits, she will stay invisible and will be virtually ignored by the enemies. (She's still vulnerable to area-effect spells.) The Septie`me perfume, poachable from the Greater Hydras found in the Deep, and the Ninja Gear found on the sixth floor of the dungeon (The Palings) also have the same invisibility effect. And since the Ninja Gear is body armor instead of an accessory, it allows you to also equip Germinas Boots at the same time. As a caution, note that enemy characters with Treasure Hunter can also pick up the rare items, which will prevent you from getting them! At the start of each battle, you may want to check all the enemy humans to see if they have Treasure Hunter. If they do, either KO or Immobilize them quickly to prevent them from beating you to the loot! LOCATING THE RARE ITEMS So WHERE are all these great items? Of course, on each floor, the items are in different locations. Since the tiles are not given any names or numbers in the game, I've had to assign my own numbers to them. Here's the scheme I've used: When the battle starts, tilt the analog stick on the PSP left or right. When you do this, the screen will change perspective and you'll be looking at the battlefield from a different angle. Keep doing this until your characters are facing down and to the left on the screen. Now, move the cursor to the lower left corner. This tile is (X: 0, Y: 0). If you