------=========================================================------ ----==- --= __ --=-= --=-== --=-= -=-= --=---= ---==- _/ \ -= __ ___ -- /| --=---== --=- /__\_ \,_____|\ | |_________ / \__ / | -==--==-= --=-= _) \ \ \ V \| | / \/ ) \ | | ---=--=-=-= --=--- \ () ( \ [| | \ |_ __/| | \ / \| | -===-== -=--=== \ __/ |[| | | || | [| |\ \\/ | -=-== -=--=- \ ( \__| | || | |/\ \ \___/ | -=--= --=== -=-==-- ) \ \ | | | || | | ( \ \/ | --=-==- =---= \____\ /__|__|__|\ |\__/__|__\ /______( -=-==-== -=-- \/ ___ \| ___\___/ -=== -- -----== / \_________ / \ --=-= --=-==-== ---= --= / ) / \/ / \ -==-= ---===-=== ----==- ---= ( \ / __/| | [] / -=- -== -===-== - -==-===- --= \ \\/| | [| | / --=-=- --=--=== ---=---= /\ \ | | | | \ -==== --===-===- ( \ \| | | | | \ -=--= --=-= --=== ==-===- ---= \ /\__/__|__|__|\ / -=-= -== -== ----=--- --== \___/ \/ _ -=====- ---=- --= [ ] |\| | ][ |\| |_ --=-===== --=- [_] | | |_ ][ | | |_ [LoG!] -===-== -----=- --==-== ------=========================================================------ - T - A - C - T - I - C - A - L - | - W - A - R - | - F - A - Q - ------=========================================================------ Revision 1.0 released 2001-01-03 The Phantasy Star Online Tactical War FAQ! (c) copyright 2001 Loic Gratton. [LoG] Drop me a mail: PSO_Loic@hotmail.com This FAQ is best viewed with a Fixed size System font! Typically NotePad, your web browser or Good ol' DOS shell. ( to see the ascii art thingye ) viewing this with any other non fixed size font will cause severe brain damage and I shall not be held responsible. You MAY NOT distribute this FAQ in any modified form, other than for personnal use. The only authorized web site currently publishing this FAQ is www.gamefaqs.com Just because I think it's the best gaming FAQ source around. Publishing of this FAQ on any other web-site is subject to my approval. You MAY NOT use, distribute, reprint or modify this FAQ for your own profit or for the profit of an agency, magazine, compilation, or any other form of use other than for your personnal use. DISCLAIMER: This Clamor! Loic Gratton is in no way related to SEGA of America or any of its affiliates, SEGA of Japan or any if its affiliates, or any other console gaming software, development, marketing, distributor, or fast food chain that you could think of. This is independent work, made out of pure appreciation of this game. ------=========================================================------ 1.00 ------- Introduction 1.01 --- Revision history 1.10 --- Quick start 1.20 --- Gameplay modes 1.21 Mission mode 1.22 Story mode 1.30 --- Getting started 2.00 ------- Exploring the planet -More coming soon 3.00 ------- Combat strategies -More coming soon 3.10 --- Movement tactics 3.20 --- Using radar 3.30 --- Combo system 3.40 --- Managing NPC's 3.50 --- Know your monsters 3.60 --- Emergency escape technique 3.70 --- Specific weapon strategies 3.80 --- Specific monster strategies 3.81 Forest monsters 3.82 Cave monsters 3.83 Mine monsters 3.84 Ruins monsters 4.00 ------- Raising MAGs 4.10 --- Gaining photon blasts 4.20 --- Gaining MAG levels efficiently 4.21 Item distribution correlated with level - coming soon 4.30 --- Charging photons 4.40 --- Depleting your photon meter 4.50 --- MAG's automatic assistance 4.60 --- Tip to preserve your meter before a boss 5.00 ------- statistics 5.10 --- Comparing and understanding player stats 5.20 --- Comparing and understanding weapons stats 5.30 --- Comparing and understanding armor stats 5.40 --- Using slots to boost your base stats 5.50 --- Using items to boost your base stats 6.00 ------- Stage bosses strategies and patterns 6.10 --- Red dragon 6.20 --- Nasty shrimp thing 6.30 --- Computer room 6.40 --- Evil dark thing 7.00 ------- Useless Trivia and some bugs ------=========================================================------ [1.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [INTRODUCTION]=----------------------------------------------------=[] Thank you for taking time to read this FAQ. My main objective is to help improve your game tactics so that you may perform better, and make your character evolve faster. Most of the strategy in here is for OFFLINE play. When I'll get hooked-up online, then some new theory will flow in. I have no intention of doing mission walkthrough until the very end, since everyone else are doing them. Same goes for item lists and anything you can figure out on your own. Seeing that PSO is currently one of the top hits on GameFaqs, and that the other FAQS I've read up to now had little technical info on the game mechanics, I had to do something about it. Again, this is independent work, made out of pure appreciation of this game. I have not ripped off anyone else, and please respect this FAQ in the very same fashion. I had no instructions to begin with, and everything in here comes from trial and error. Ohh yeah, thank god this game came out while I was on vacation ;) And hey, feel free to drop me a mail, for tips suggestions and point- ing out errors I may have made. (Very possible). I'm a bit slow on the mail due to a hectic schedule, but I'll do my best! This is actually my 2nd game related FAQ ever. My first one was for Azure Dreams on playstation, which came out in a bang and dropped quickly due to lack of time ;) I'm a friendly guy, so keep the flames for yourself. If you provide new, cool infos and tips, you will be acknowledged in this FAQ. [1.01]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [REVISION HISTORY]=------------------------------------------------=[] 2000-01-03 - Revision 1.0 - Everything not in the future revisions! [1.10]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [QUICK START]=-----------------------------------------------------=[] In the unlikely event that you are reading this FAQ before actually playing the game, I would like to recommend that you give the "RAcast" class a try. You could also give it a try if your feel your current class is lacking in power. Keep in mind however that you may only save one character per VMU, regardless of the free space on it. This actually made me buy a 2nd VMU (One small note, if you purchase a Dreamcast 4x memory card, you will be able to save one character per memory bank (4 total)). The RAcast is an excellent class, even if it may not use techniques. If you want my opinion, as long as you are playing this game OFFLINE, you may as well stick to this character. My FOnewm (Highest TP) isn't nearly as effective as this guy, in combat. Besides, many aspects of this FAQ will evolve around gun strategies (RAcast is a gun master). You may find the RAcast a little frustrating if you are a new player, because it is hard to get a gun lock sometimes. But with a little practice, you'll be Gun-Ho! If you're more into ninja style kinda guys, have a look at the HUcast class. Yes, another android type warrior with no TP. However, this guy has access to several types of weapons, and he's just crazy cool when he is comboing a Dagger attack. The HUmans are probably the characters with the nicest options avail- able. It is the character with which I've had the most ease playing the game, because of the weapons that they may use. They have guns, and they have swords ( I didn't say sabers, I said swords!!! ). The HUcast is a pure killing machine. Definetly my personnal favorite. Finally, ANDROIDS are immune to poison, and can always detect traps. Besides, they just look totally bad-ass. <-The only bad word in this FAQ! See the mission mode section for a quick start tip to get a few items and money quickly and at very low risk. [1.20]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [GAMEPLAY MODES]=--------------------------------------------------=[] There are two ways of playing this game, which are parrallel. You have the basic story line, which is totally linear. And then you have the missions, which are non-linear. [1.21]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [MISSION MODE]=----------------------------------------------------=[] You are in mission mode whenever you go to the hunter's guild, talk to the 3D chixx, and pick a mission. Do not feel obliged to do the missions in the order of the list; Most of them aren't even related to each other. I think you should start by doing most of the missions for the first section (this means; before you kill stage boss 1). There are two good reasons for this: Some of the missions have been designed in order to actually teach you some figting strategies, and it's an excellent way of gaining experience points. The only downside to this is the apparent redundancy in the maps. If you crave seeing new horizons quickly, you're in for a deception. If you intend to map the levels, keep in mind that each mission has different locations for door triggers, teleports, and so on. So the base set is the same, but stuff moves around. Keep in mind that killing stage boss 1 (The dragon) will unlock new missions that take place in the caves. Should you be an experienced player, and feel comfortable with the combat strategies of this game, you may skip the missions completely. My third test character (a HUcast) got all the way to the cave level's boss in a single shot, using the combat tricks explained in this FAQ (and never died until it met the Shrimp nuisance ;). Quick tip; If you chose a TP based character (Force) and want to have a very small boost when you begin, you may as well do one mission, the "Battle training" one. What happens here is that you are escorted by some lvl 36 dude, so this mission is more than a piece of cake. The trick is simple, just always make sure you strike every ennemy at least one. Then lead your NPC to finish them. You will always score some experience, and in less than 10-15 minutes you will wipe that mission clean of its items, so a nice cash potential here. (See the NPC section for tips on their movement behavior.) When you're done with this small trick, you barely did anything and you're probably almost level 3 by now. Should you wish to repeat this trick again, simply avoid getting your money from the guild (when you come back), and cancel the mission. (Don't talk to the guy, go straight to the counter). Then re-select the mission! [1.22]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [STORY MODE]=------------------------------------------------------=[] Now, you are in story mode whenever you descend on the planet and you have no current mission being active. This mode is the true backbone of the game, and this is where you will actually see the story evolve. Keep in mind that the story mode always has some kind of stage boss lurking at the end of your adventure. (Please consult the level boss section for war tactics). You will know that you have reached a stage boss when you find a much bigger, squared teleport. It is also the only teleport which asks you if you are sure you wish to enter. The story mode also features the complete maps, in their respective areas (Forest, cave, mine, etc). When you kill a stage boss, remember to go see the principal so that new maps will be available to the teleporter. [1.30]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [GETTING STARTED]=-------------------------------------------------=[] Btw, the FIRST thing you will do: Go into options, then Map direction, and set your map to NON-FIXED. Why? well first of all, alot of the techniques described in this FAQ will assume you are set to non-fixed. Second, it's totally useless to have the fixed map. Your cursor is way too small to tell which way you're heading at any given time, and it's way harder to estimate the positions of ennemies in relation to yourself. Some quick turn-around and lock techniques will be so many times easyer with non fixed camera. Besides, if you keep it at fixed, go read someone else's FAQ. ;) SECOND, you will customize your action menu (this means you will assign actions to specific buttons). This step is *absolutely* critical as there is a direct correlation with your reflexes and your survival. Now there are two menus of three buttons that you may configure. There is a "front" menu, which is the one that will always be there. There is the "back" menu, which is the one that you can access while holding down the RIGHT TRIGGER button. Keep in mind that the back menu will not be available should your MAG be fully charged (100%)(consult the MAG section for more info on this). In the "front" menu, I strongly suggest that you keep the two attack buttons at their current positions. They are well placed, and both strenghts are easily reachable for combos. (just make sure both attacks are placed in such a way that you may hit any one of them in any sequence). Now the third button you will map in this "front" menu is a Monomate (MONOMATE heals 70 points). I don't think it's a good idea to map the MonoMate button in the "back" menu for a very simple reason; If your MAG is fully charged, you just won't be able to heal. And although you may use your MAG's photon skill to hurt whatever is hurting you, the timing won't always be right. More often than anything, you had the intention to keep your MAG charge for a specific encounter, or a massive one. So your front menu could look close to this: (BTW, this setup may be the standard one when you start, depending of your character class) _______ _______ / \ / \ |STRONG | | MONO | |ATTACK | | MATE | \_______/ \_______/ _______ / \ |NORMAL | |ATTACK | \_______/ MONOMATE will be enough for up to at least level 20, and then maybe you will begin to consider DiMate as first level healing. But until then, you're quite in buisiness with MonoMate. If you cannot see the MonoMate when you customize your buttons, go buy some at the store, they only cost 50. Now the "back" menu I will leave at your discretion. This will probably evolve with your personnal preferences and your character class. If you have a heavy spell caster, you may wish to map a MonoFluid (restore 70 TP) button. One thing is for sure, if you are a spell caster, you will quickly realize that you are missing about 10 buttons for your techniques! And I think that the fact that the 4th button (top one) in the back menu is also a chat button is totally a waste of a good button. I mean what do I care about a 2nd chat button, one is being imposed on me already in the front menu. [2.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [EXPLORING THE PLANET]=--------------------------------------------=[] While you explore, keep track of the location of the columns with runes that you will find. You should find one in the forest, one in the caves and one in the mines. Don't assume that they never move; If you start a new game, chances are the stuff will be placed diffe- rently. You will need to come back to these columns later in the game to activate a portal. If you are playing in story mode, you should always kill *everything* you encounter, and do this at least once if it is the first time you explore the area you are in. This will this give you an idea of which groups of monsters open doors (and remember, I don't mean doors to the rooms you are currently fighting in. Sometimes, they have an effect in remote rooms). You should also kill everything you encounter because if you skipped the missions, your experience gains should make you just strong enough to make the stage bosses. Besides, killing everything in a level should increase your chances of obtaining weapons with bonuses relevant to the area (Bonus hit on native, A. beast, Machine and Dark). Do not hesitate to use Telepipes while you explore! Don't under- estimate the usefullness of this tool. If you are about to enter a room and you think you're going to be in trouble, just open a telepipe right before the room, so at least if you die and you fail your emergency teleport (See the emergency escape section) you won't have to walk all the way back, again. [3.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [COMBAT STRATEGIES]=-----------------------------------------------=[] Alot of things influence the way you fight. Your active weapon, your placement in relation with your target, the target's behavior (see monster strategies), the shape and size of the room, etc. [3.10]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Movement tactics]=------------------------------------------------=[] Well, this is quite simple. The single most important factor that will determin your edge in a fight is movement. Mastering your movement skills will often be combined with mastering your Camera reset times. (you reset the camera with the Left trigger button). Here are a few moves I use systematically. Deciding which moves to pull in your fights will come to you naturally, depending on the situation. ----------= Simple retreat with no camera reset: ----------= [[ This is best suited with close range weapons that are very long, (Sword, Partisan, etc when facing groups of multiple monster)but it also work kinda well with short weapons (sabers, daggers, etc when attacking a single target).]] Well this is the natural, newbie approach to movement, but it is the best tactic to use in some situations, so I will mention it: As monsters approach towards you, while you are facing it(them), you press down on the joystick, not seeing where you are headed (while you can see the monster(s) in your back). You may be using your radar while you do this, in order to avoid walking into a dead-end. Gain some distance, face the monster(s) again, strike an attack, and repeat. (you will often choose not to do a 3 hit combo, so to avoid the monster's retaliation. A normal two hit combo can be very good here). The distance you turn around at would be the distance just before a cursor would appear for the weapon you are using. So you have time to do a pre-emptive strike. If you are fast, you can QUEUE your attack before turning around. So you walk back, press the button, turn around immediatly, and strike. This will save you about .5 second fight time. While you are doing your weapon strike, you may want to reset your camera just to tweak your position to be 100% aligned. ----------= Retreat and volte-face: ----------= [[ This is best suited for long range weapons where you would actually like to take a distant, sniper position from the monsters. You want the possibility of actually seeing where you go, so that position choice is optimal.]] When a monster is too close, turn around 180° so that you are facing yourself (phylosophical debate here) and reset the camera. Run forward (moving away from the monster) and watch your radar. The radar part is important, because it is what determins how well you will be dead-on target when you turn back again. Now as you run, simply make sure that the yellow dot you wanna hit is exactly in your back. By exactly in your back, I mean that the yellow dot is perfectly aligned "south" under your own dot on the radar.Btw, I'm assuming here that your RADAR has been set to free-movement, and that it is not locked always facing true-North. If it's locked, we're wasting our time here. When you are in position, turn around again, let the joystick go, and reset the camera. If done right, you will systematically be dead-on the monster, and can have multiple shots with, for example, a gun. This trick can also be pulled on a very short distance if you wish to have a quick cursor reset. On some occasions, you will be facing a target, but you won't have a lock. just turn around, reset, turn around again, reset. All this while staying at the same place. ----------= Chicken run and volte-face: ----------= [[This is suited for all weapons and a very usefull technique]] This will not work well right after an attack, if you have attacked, you will have to retreat, do a double volte-face, and start running. If you are running against a wall and you simply want to avoid being caught in a dead-end, you can simply run past a monster. So as the monster approaches, just before it is in striking distance, walk straight towards it, and walk past it to the left or right (just like they do in Foozball). Generally monsters cannot score hits while they turn around, so this trick will even work as they are striking. Now that you have run passed the monster, take some little distance and do a 180° turn-around with a camera reset. ----------= 90° fakie + quick strike: ----------= [[this works well with quick, short range weapons, such as the dagger and the saber, etc. You should make sure that there are no other monsters in the immediate surrounding, otherwise you may be using the wrong tactic]] Like in the chicken run, just before you are to get attacked, run past the monster to either side (choose a weapon's range distance), and when you are exactly on it's side, QUEUE up an attack as you turn towards the monster (or EXACTLY when the cursor appears while you turn), and when you strike reset your camera. Repeat until the monster dies. You can actually turn around and hit most monsters like this while never taking a hit. Stick to normal 1-2 hit combos, because when you queue a third hit, the monster generally counterstrikes due to your recovery time. ----------= Sheep herd + mass attack: ----------= [[ This is totally excellent with multiple target weapons, such as Swords, Partisans, advanced guns, etc. If you are using TP techniques, it's the best occasion you will get for casting offensive group spells]] Now your objective here is to actually gather the most monsters possible in the smallest group possible. When you are facing multiple monsters in a room which are scattered, it is often best to have them all regrouped. This works well with similar speed monsters. What you do here is head towards the middle of the room, and let the early monsters approach. As they are getting closer, start running next to that group (going towards it) and once you are passed the group, start running in circles around that group, resetting your camera every second approximately. Now to add monsters to this group, run larger circles around the stray monsters that remain in the room. If done right, you can actually gather all of the room's monsters, even if you are facing 15 monsters. The key here is to run in circles and reset your camera all the time. Pay close attention to your herd on the radar. Now when your monster group is all setup, use the retreat and volte- face technique. Just for the book, with a sword I've killed about 8-9 sharks in a single sword hit. This is also a very good occasion of using a photon blast. It's very high class and it's nice to watch some actual massive damage being done by your buddy. [3.20]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [USING RADAR]=-----------------------------------------------------=[] One thing is for sure, the most critical aspect of war tactics is the use of your radar. You should be keeping an eye on your radar at all times. You should make an habit out of watching the radar EVERY time you enter a room. If you rely on your game view while monsters spawn, you will only see what's going on in front of you. But often you will find that this game scatters the monsters in accordance to their fight style. So monsters that are formation monsters will spawn in formation whereas monsters that like to hunt you down and surround you will appear scattered around the room. Monsters will not always spawn when you enter a room. Sometimes they spawn when you explore a specific area in a room. Remember also to systematically watch the radar when you kill a wave of monsters. You should rely on two things here; You should listen carefully to the sounds. If a new wave arrives, you will hear them spawn, and they will appear on radar. In accordance to your fighting style (and weapon), a monster wave start is the most critical moment to take a strategical position on the map. [3.30]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [COMBO SYSTEM]=----------------------------------------------------=[] While you fight either in close range or in long range, you should be aware that ANY possible combination of physical attacks are combo-able to up to 3 sequences. Basically, you have a normal attack, a strong attack, and a special attack. You can combo any of these attacks any way you like. However, you should be aware that some combo'es are very counter productive, and very time consuming. In the weapon type sections, I may suggest a few combos depending of the situation you're in. Other than that, the key to combos is TIMING. There are two important factors to performing a combo: -Do not bash the buttons real fast. A combo move will connect with your previous move IF you hit the button when the previous move FINISHES. So if you are trying to pull a 3 hit combo, you should be hitting the buttons three times only, not more. -Different characters for the same weapon will have a different timing for the combo. Also, depending of your class, you will be more proficient at the use of certain weapons, and thus strike faster. Try not to combo strong attacks too often, unless you have the luxury of doing so. It is a slower attack, and every move in the sequence takes time to charge up. Besides, special attacks have a lower hit ratio, so only perform these if your risk of being hit is pretty low. Unless you are using a mid or long range weapon, you will almost never pull a 3 hit Special combo (the ones which only a few weapons have, like panic, heat and so on) without getting hit. The timing window inbetween charges is waaaayyyyy too long, and it's probably only reasonnable to pull a 3 hitter with a gun or something. When you will know your close range weapon's attack distance very well, you will actually be able to initiate a close range weapon's special hit one second in advance of the cursor's appeareance. So basically, you want the monster to walk into a special and score it. If you were to wait for the cursor to appear and immediatly press your special attack button, you may often not even have time to pull it out before being cancelled by a monster attack. With some practice, combos will become second nature. I almost never do single attacks, unless I'm poking at some monster for a specific reason. [3.40]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [MANAGING NPC's]=--------------------------------------------------=[] On some missions, you will be assigned an NPC. This means that you are being escorted by a player which you do not directly control. Since you don't control it, maybe you would like to have some behavior tips about the way they move. Most NPC's will always follow you at about the same distance. They will keep this distance unless they are intercepted by an encounter. Should they be in an encounter while you move away, you will be able to gain some distance on them. Depending of the NPC you are exploring with, you should be aware that they have an approximate radius around them which is their "aggresive" zone. This means that whatever monster enters that zone will get attacked by the NPC. So the key here to managing your NPC is movement. Any monster not in an NPC's aggresive radius will be left alone. A good trick you can try is to move up to a monster, strike it maybe once, and then move right past the monster. (just run next to it, going to its back). Usually, the NPC will engage the monster, and you will be clear for attacking it in the back. You should strike every monster at least once, so you will score points when it is killed either by you or the NPC. Be aware that NPC's never back-out from combat. This can be very bad if your mission is about an NPC's survival. If you put your NPC in such a situation that it is being surrounded by multiple monsters, the only way you will manage to save it is by starting to kill the monsters around it. They won't initiate fleeing at all. And they can't always Heal! I've had NPC's die on me. NPC's will say stuff when they are being hurt bad. like "Aargh" or something. When you are not fighting monsters, you should be aware that NPC's systematically heal themselves. So if you notice that your NPC is damaged and that they are not healing, this is bad. Chances are that at the next encounter, they won't heal during combat and may die. If this situation occurs, try to find a healing platform. One important thing here; If in your exploration you find one of the "healing" platforms (you know, they look like two metal discs that hover above ground, with a green halo), make sure that once you're done healing, you get your NPC to walk inside it. They won't go by themselves. If you do this right and the NPC was in bad need of TP/HP restoration, they will even say "Thank you". You wouldn't want your NPC to die in combat because they ran out of TP. [3.50]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [KNOW YOUR MONSTERS]=----------------------------------------------=[] Depending of the weapon you are fighting with, you should always be aware of the approximate amount of shots it takes to kill specific monsters. Generally speaking, if you have no idea when a monster is about to die, you cannot plan ahead as efficiently as when you know in how many shots it will die. There is a section about monster behavior, have a look at it. You should also know how much damage they can potentially inflict to you. There is a direct correlation with when you will press that heal button. [3.60]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [EMERGENCY ESCAPE TECHNIQUE]=--------------------------------------=[] Like I said in the previous section, the back menu is up to you; However, there is one technique I use that has saved me *MANY* times from being killed in critical situations. One of the buttons that I map in the back menu is a TELEPIPE. The telepipe opens a portal to the city. Now the nice thing about the TELEPIPE, is that the portal is opened *immediately* when you use it. This means that when you are being surrounded by 6-7 monsters and you are stuck in such a way that: - You can't even heal as fast as the damage you are taking, - You can't even open up an escape route, - Or you are simply getting totally owned by some monster, There is a way out. This may require some practice, but here's how it works: When you're in deep trouble and you KNOW you will die in the next second, hit the TELEPIPE button , *AND* immediately after, hit the A (red) button. And when I mean immediately, I mean as fast as your fingers can do it. Remember to let go of the RIGHT trigger as you perform this. If done successfully, you will immediately dissapear from combat, and you will arrive in a safe haven. There are two huge advantages to this: Not only do you have the opportunity to re-stock in the store, when you return, the monsters will generally reset to their original positions (they still have any damage you have previously scored). Should you get hit WHILE you are teleporting, at least you will die in the city. This means that you will have access to the money you had gathered, and you will be able to regain your current weapon. Not only that, but it means that you have a path straight to the room your were into, previously. This is nowhere as bad as having to go all the way down again, with no portal, and possibly without your favorite weapon. **Now there are two restrictions to this: - You cannot use this trick against a stage boss - Any level of charge your MAG has gathered will be reset. [3.70]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [SPECIFIC WEAPON STRATEGIES]=--------------------------------------=[] Currently only contains gun strategies, but more weapons classes will come in future revisions. [3.71]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [GUN STRATEGIES]=--------------------------------------------------=[] Guns are excellent and overall dominate any other weapon types in early games. The nature of the combat with guns keeps you well protected from close range attacks. You should note that there is a direct correlation with your char- acter class and the damage you will inflict, and this is regardless of your ATA and ATP stats. Force players really suck with guns. When a new encounter begins, either because you have entered a new room, or because a new wave of monsters have spawned, you should quickly evaluate your position on the map. You should pick a spot where you are either slightly inside a door, or a spot where you are not stuck in a dead-end. If you are fighting inside a door's arch, you can always back-up to the previous room. When you do this, it will generally force the monsters to return to an idle position, near where they spawned. If you attempt to shoot monsters from another room, you will notice that the shots do not get passed doors. If there are no doors and you are in a closed room, just make sure you have an evasion path prepared. While you fight, always pay attention to the way the monsters move on the radar. When I am gun fighting, I spend nearly 20% of my time watching the radar. While fighthing at long range, you may find it difficult to actually "lock-on" a target. This occurs usually because you are not exactly facing towards that monster. (or you are too far). Assuming you are simply not facing it properly, don't try and nudge the joystick left or right to adjust the aiming; You usually turn 90 degrees either way. You should try instead to move towards yourself (so your character looks at you), reset the camera with the L1 button, and repeat this step to look towards the monster again, resetting the camera again. Generally, your lock will be dead-on target. Another technique which works well at all ranges is to walk towards the target very gently, turning slighly left or right. When you hear the cursor lock-on, start your combo WHILE you move! if you let the joystick go just before firing, you may lose target again. Even if you were moving, when you start shooting your character will stop, and the lock will remain on target from that point on. Depending of the amount of monsters you are facing, you may choose to move closer. By closer I mean a distance which will score more damage, but which will not allow you to get hit by that monster while you are shooting combos. (The damage you inflict is relative to the shot's distance) The best here is to combo a 3x normal attack. You do this while the monsters are still pretty far and at least 08 seconds from making contact with you. You do the normal attack because it is much faster and the hit/miss ratio is much better. Should a monster begin to get too close, you should insert one, and maybe two strong attacks in your combo, if you feel bold. You should start the combo with a strong attack, because if it hits, the monster will be pushed backwards. This is why you are actually inserting strong attacks at this distance. Should the first shot not connect, try another strong shot until it hits. Now that the opponent has been pushed backwards, you may wish to take this opportunity to move somewhere else. If the monster is actually in contact range, you should now switch to a Normal-strong-normal combo. You begin with a normal shot because it is generally fast enough to break the attack the monster was about to do. The second strong shot is meant to push the monster back, and maybe allow you to evade. The third shot is a normal because it is very fast. It tends to cancel the second attack attempt that the target usually performs at this point. If you attempt to do a normal-strong-strong combo, often the monster will have time to move towards you again and strike a hit. In close range, if you start the combo with a strong, the monster will almost always hit you. Even if there is no damage scored (you blocked) he will have your shot cancelled. In close range, be prepared to hit the heal button. And I don't mean cast heal, I mean eat/drink an item. If you take time to cast, you often realize a bit too late that the monster had time to score a fatal blow. Also keep in mind that right after a combo, there is a small delay before you can use an item. This delay could prove fatal, so time your item very precisely. [3.80]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [SPECIFIC MONSTER STRATEGIES]=-------------------------------------=[] Some general information on monster behaviour and possibly some tricks specific to them. Not alot right now because this section can take waay too much time to fill-up. [3.81]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [FOREST MONSTERS]=-------------------------------------------------=[] Rag rappie: This monster is not very powerfull. However don't become overconfident if they come in a large group. Their general strategy is to surround you, keeping you from evading, and start massive hitting. If you are surrounded and low level, you are potentially dead right now. They are a no brainer, almost every classe's combo's will kill them in a single combo. Savage wolf: A very mobile monster who likes to turn around its prey. Do not let one come up your back or they will strike. They are easy to kill with most weapons, as long as you manage to make contact. You may generally walk straight to this monster quite safely. If the proportions of you character are very small (let's say you tried a midget female player) you will notice that is it much harder to avoid getting hit by the monsters. Booma/GoBooma: [[ section to be updated in a future revision. Alot of stuff can go here . ]] [4.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [RAISING MAGS]=----------------------------------------------------=[] The MAG is the little critter that hovers behind your back at all times, if you have one equipped. If you fail to properly maintain your MAG, your MAG will thank you by being a totally useless piece of meat stalking you everywhere. MAGs will require *alot* of maintenance effort from you. You should almost make it a timed routine to feed your MAG. Purists will play with a clock and raise strong MAGs really fast. Slackers will play the game thinking their MAG is useless, because it will lack power. A high level MAG will start casting power ups on you at no cost, and by it's own initiative! [4.10]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Gaining Photon blasts]=-------------------------------------------=[] MAGs gain Photon blasts by reaching specific levels. See the section below for tips on feeding your MAG. You will win your first photon when it reaches level 10. It will change shape and name. You will win your second photon at level 35. Again, it will change shape and name. You will win your third photon when it reaches level 50. Yes you guessed right, stuff changes again. I believe all MAGs start at level 5 or something. They start with no photon blasts. It would seem that the photon blasts you will gain will be directly related to your character class. So basically, all rangers gain the same photons in the same order. The same goes for Forces and Humans. You may have multiple MAGs, but I'm not exactly certain what can be done with them. You should realize that raising multiple mags will always give the same results; You will gain the same Photons, so in theory it's a waste of time. If there's a trick to gain different photons, then this becomes interesting. (Oh and by multiple MAGs, I mean having more than one in INVENTORY. I don't mean when they split up as they increase levels). I can currently only equip ONE MAG at a time, so maintaining more than one MAGs is currently a complete waste of time. However, if in very advanced levels you can equip more than one, or if an equipment allows you to do so, then I will revise this section. Maybe with online play you can raise a MAG for someone else, because your photons would be much cooler that your friend's. But I'm not hooked-up, so I don't know if MAGs retain their property when passed over to someone else. (For example, a FORCE with a level 10 MAG will get a "Full heal" Photon. WHO CARES? All this charge up work for a heal?!?!). Hopefully, in online play you can trade mags and customize them as you wish, for example lvl 10 someone does it for you, then you do lvl 35, them someone else does lvl 50, so you have a fully custom MAG. But this is only speculation, I only hope you can do it.. [4.20]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Gaining MAG levels efficiently]=----------------------------------=[] Your MAG will increase levels by feeding it restoration items. Now I'm not saying this is advanced science, but knowing what you do will help you get passed level 35 and above much easyer. There are 3 disctinct stats that you should pay attention to: The SYNCH percentage, The IQ score, And the 4 attributes. You will gain a MAG level each time one of your attributes goes up for 1 point (in other words, you filled a colored bar completely). You will *LOSE* stats if you neglect your MAG for a too long period of time. So don't forget to feed it! (it kinda becomes hungry and lonely I guess). In the early levels of you MAG, you can basically feed it anything without caring much. Almost anything you give it will increase some or all the stats. Feeding it highly potent items (DiMate, DiFluids, Tri*, etc) will raise its stats much faster. Experiment a little with every item that you have, and try to find the ones that increases the attributes *_AND_* at least the IQ and/or Synch percentage. You will want to boost IQ and Synch real early in its growth, because it becomes much harder later on. Sometimes cheap items like Antidotes will have very good results, so a good idea here is to systematically stock such items in quantities of 10. Every trip to the store, you re-stock. When you will be wealthy, you'll do the same, but with hi-grade stuff. Oh yeah, pick one item for your MAG, and concentrate on it. You don't wanna waste precious inventory space with junk, you will need all the space you can get when you explore. When you will reach a MAG level of 35, it will begin to become terribly picky and fancy, much like and old, rich woman. One critical thing will happen: When you feed it some items that used to give very good results, now some stats will go DOWN instead of going UP! Don't panic here, the single most important thing to remember is this: Do NOT feed it stuff that lowers either IQ or SYNCH. If an item lowers these stats, ban this item from you MAG's diet. Now you may feed it recovery items that lower the attributes, however. This is okay because an attribute will not go lower in score. Only your current progress for the next level can go down, until the colored progress bar reaches 0. At this point, it is very important that you find an item that raises very well an attribute you would like to work on (items that raise a full point with 4-5 feeding doses are excellent). Once you have found such an item, stick to it at all times. Your MAG dislikes changing diets at this point. If you were to feed it a DiMate, and then a DiFluid (for example), you will notice that the DiFluid lowers some stats. Don't deduct from this that the DiFluid is a bad item for your MAG, because chances are if you feed it DiFluids all the time, stats will go up. The key here is to stay away from IQ and SYNCH lowering items. That's it. For the fanatics and the monks out there that like to optimize stuff up to the MAX, I'd suggest you start playing with a clock. MAGs will accept feedings every five minutes, in general. Just clock whatever time it takes for the mag to accept new items, again. You may notice that for some of your characters, it's a little longer or shorter. One of my Force players can feed the MAG every 4 minutes.You may do this while idling in the store and watching TV or something. Just make sure you're not in the MAG menu itself, because the text "Give item" will not become available unless you go back and forth from that menu. [4.21]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Item distribution correlated with level]=-------------------------=[] Coming soon - There is a direct correlation with the behavior of an item and the mag's level. you know that already. But all effects could be listed here in a future revision. [4.30]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Charging Photons]=------------------------------------------------=[] Ok how this works is fairly simple. Once your MAG reaches at least the level 10 (in other words, once you have a Photon), your MAG will begin to accumulate a charge when you fight and take damage. (it goes up MUCH faster when you take a hit. You can take 10 points and more when you get a major beating. In contrast, you'll maybe raise only 1 point by killing a monster without taking any damage). In the upper left corner, around the red/blue hex, there is a meter. Right next to this meter, there is a number which represents your meter completion. This value is anywhere from 0 to 100. As your meter increases, you will notice that a yellow line will draw around the hex. When you reach 100, your mag will let you know that it is ready to cast a photon. Now, two things happen: - You will either blink with a charge-up sound being emitted once, or you will see yellow sparkling going down on your body. (BTW, you are invulnerable while you are sparkling yellow). - Your alternate button menu (RIGHT TRIGGER) will be completely re- placed with the MAG's photon menu. This is actually an especially bad situation for FORCE players, because suddenly you probably lose many "quick" spells that you really need. I think it would have been cool if only the used photon slots would override your current Right trigger menu. It kinda sucks to be forced to have blank spaces while you're in the heat of battle and you don't need to cast a photon yet. [4.40]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Depleting your photon meter]=-------------------------------------=[] Your photon meter will be depleted if any of these events occur: - When you die - When you travel using a telepipe (you may safely deploy one) - When you cast a photon (duh) - When you go back to pioneer 2. You can safely travel inbetween warp gates that are included inside any given level, as long as it doesn't take you back to Pioneer2. [4.50]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [MAG's automatic assistance]=--------------------------------------=[] You will soon realize that a well maintained MAG ain't as useless at it may seem. Now I know that the main factors here are your MAG's IQ and the Synch level. But to which extent these stats each play a role when it does stuff by itself is not clearly defined, yet. The best part is, they do this at no cost! Your MAG meter will not be affected, and it can be empty. Here's a few things that a MAG will do for you; -If you are critically wounded, your MAG will give you a full heal. (about to die). Now I'm not sure which stat determins your MAG's speed of reaction. In general however, my healing reflex is faster than my MAG's. -if you are about to face a stage boss, you MAG will cast a Defence and an Offence increase on you. The stronger your MAG is, the longer the spell will last. -On some occasions your MAG will cover you, and you will be completely invulnerable. While it covers you, you see the MAG (or the pair) spin on itself. -When your MAG is cooperative, right after you cast a Photon, you will be invulnerable also. It makes a tremendous difference when facing a stage boss. You will know that you are invulnerable if the MAG meter is empty and you are sparkling yellow. [4.60]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Tip to preserving your meter before a Stage boss]=----------------=[] I think that unless you are seriously over-levelled for a specific stage boss, you will need all the recovery items that you can get your hands on. This means 10 MonoMates, 10 DiMates, and maybe Fluid items if that turns you on. Now I systematically don't care about my meter, and I telepipe to the city before a boss, I get loaded with items, and come back and go kick some boss. (While I take a beating, I usually gain a meter before the boss is dead). If, however, for any reason you *need* a full meter and a full supply of items, here's probably the only way: Items will always stay in a level as long as you don't quit the game. (or until you complete a stage boss or a mission) So basically, go to the teleport gate that leads to a stage boss. Deploy a Telepipe next to it, and go stock up at the store (of course at this point, your MAG meter has been emptyed). Come back, and drop your recovery items that you will need. Open another telepipe, and get some recovery items for your immediate need. Now go find a monster that you have left behind (now we're assuming you read this section before and you saved a monster somewhere ;) and let this monster beat you up a little, heal, repeat, heal, etc etc. Unless you have a low level MAG (I think), your meter should charge up pretty fast. Now go to the boss, take your items, and you're set! (If you want my opinion though, this is a waste of time!) (Of course if you're playing online then some friend can go grab some items for you and you're in buisiness!) [5.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] All of section 5.00 is coming soon in a future revision. [6.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [STAGE BOSSES STRATEGIES AND PATTERNS]=----------------------------=[] You should always be well prepared before facing a stage boss. Just remember that you won't have an opportunity to customize your buttons while in the heat of action. So this could be a chance to set your buttons in a special way, just for these encounters. (Maybe you want to map a DiMate button, etc). The best thing to do is to open up a telepipe just next to the portal that leads to a stage boss. If you need, go in town and max out all of your recovery items. Remember that if you use a telepipe, your MAG will reset its charge. However, there's nothing like a full supply of recovery items to kick some stage boss arse. Besides, chances are you will take so much punishment in these fights that your MAG will charge up to 100. If you go in town, remember to deposit all of your remai- ning money in the deposit. So if you die, you will have some credits to purchase basic items. Just before entering the portal that leads to the boss, you should open another telepipe next to the portal (assuming you used the previous telepipe). You do this as a safety measure, in case you die. If you were to die, all you would have to do is gear up a little bit, and go down your telepipe again (next to the city deposit, telepo- rting right next to the action!). I wasn't setting telepipes when I started (hey, I had no FAQ!) and I've lost count of the amount of times I was frustrated at having to travel all the way back. The general rule of thumb is that stage bosses are huge pattern fights. If you know which pattern to expect, then you should not have much problems getting them killed. Not all character classes will have facility killing stage bosses. There are very specific weapon groups that have big time advantages in some situations. It appears that with its vast variety of available weapons, the Human class is the jack of all trades for killing stage bosses. With some stage bosses, my Force or Ranger classes had a terribly hard time even surviving. (Not because I don't know the patterns, but because the weapons/techniques available to me in specific situations would not score enough damage to get the job done in a reasonnable amount of time). With Human, it's a joke. [6.10]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Red Dragon-FOREST]=-----------------------------------------------=[] A fairly straightforward combat. This is good practice for understan- ding pattern behavior. You should be around level 4 for the NORMAL level.(higher if you did the missions) (Around level 21 at HARD). Suggested weapons: -Any weapon, preferably one which has a NATIVE bonus. -This will be a bit easyer with a close range weapon, in NORMAL mode. (near impossible in HARD and VERY HARD mode) The fight begins in a huge, circle shaped cave with alot of movement space. There are no obstacles in the beginning of the round. Here's how it goes: - you will begin the fight facing the red dragon dead on, at some distance. The dragon will start running towards you, and the best thing to do here is run straight towards the dragon. When you are getting closer, deviate your destination either to the left or the right of the dragon. - The dragon will stop, and start breathing fire in front of it. At this point you should begin to strike combo's at its legs. Hit right behind the ankle, it's a good spot. If for any reason you never made it on the side, and you are in front of the dragon while it is about to breathe fire, just keep in mind that his fireball will split in three, one going straight ahead, the other two 45° each side. So just make sure you're not dead-ahead and avoiding the fireballs will be a piece of cake. - If you score enough damage in the legs, the dragon will fall. Be carefull while it falls, if you are under it or under certain areas of it's wings, you will suffer crush damage. The right position will leave you unarmed. - While it is down, keep bashing at the legs, taking your strong combos out. You could also run towards the head, which is now available for close range abuse. But then you would waste about 2 seconds, for not much more damage assesment. (unless you have a weak weapon, in this case the damage difference will show more). - It will then get up and fly up to the ceiling. Your best position here (you will be looking up) is to stay right behind his tail. You stay there to avoid being fireballed, and you don't stay UNDER the dragon to avoid taking crush damage when it will dive down. - After a few spits, the dragon will dive straight to the ground, creating a lava hole where it entered. - From this point, it will stay underground and start taking speed runs at you. All you will see is a lump of dirt moving around, much like a hedgehog. A good strategy to avoid being hit by the ball is to run straight towards it, and 2 seconds before impact, fake to the left or right. To estimate where the dragon is coming from, remember to watch your Radar! - After a few runs, the dragon goes back to the ceiling. - Now it will land on the ground again, and the pattern repeats. - The longer you take to kill it, the more lava holes will be created on the ground. Don't waste too much time. [*** *Beating the dragon at HARD mode* ***] - Same pattern, but the legs will be nearly immune to most types of damage. You will have to manage to constantly damage the head. Even equipped with a gun it's nowhere easy to get a lock-on the head while it moves. [4.02]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Giga shrimp from Hell-CAVES]=-------------------------------------=[] I think this guy is the longest to kill of all the bosses, and it has an elaborate pattern. Timing is absolutely crucial on this one for optimal damage. It's near impossible to avoid getting damaged with this monster. You should be around lvl 9-10 here. (more if you practiced/trained/died often :) *** My pattern sequence isn't exactly described in the good order that it occurs, but I'm writing this off memory and I have not verified my stuff, yet. *** Suggested weapons: - A strong WIDE close range weapon, such as a Sword or a Partisan. This weapon would be best with at least a 15% A.BEAST bonus. It will take much much longer with a single target weapon such as a saber. The reason is simply because this monster has multiple damageable areas. The fight begins in an underground sewage like tunnel. You are stranded on a small raft like platform, while the monster will be evolving all around you. ** For sake of understanding here, the LEFT side will be the first side where you see the monster swim by. The LEFT side will be the first side the monster will be jumping onto the platform. ** This is actually a two part pattern, one while the lights are on, and one while the lights are off. In my next revision this section should be re-written. Pattern begins: - The monster will come from behind, swim to the left side, and then move in front. It will raise its tail, and throw either 3 or 5 spikes at you. When you receive 3 spikes, you will be emprisonned in these spikes. If you receive 5 spikes, they will scatter at precise positions on the platform. If you received 5 spikes, this is a fairly easy situation. Simply spot the spike in the front- left corner, and destroy it (you have VERY limited time, a few seconds). The spikes explode soon after, so you want to avoid explosion damage. If you have received 3 spikes, this is much harder, as the spikes will actually be stuck onto you, moving with you. You should attempt to destroy at least 1, if not 2. (quite hard to get 2). You almost inevitably get some damage here. - While you are dealing with the spikes, keep your camera on the monster, which will be moving towards the left side. (and the right side in pattern #2). Be VERY carefull now and get ready to heal, because often exactly when the spikes explode, the monster will throw a multitude of plasma blasts at you. Now this blast will spread unevenly, and you have a nice chance of avoiding it if you move towards the corner the closest to the monster. - Now the monster will swim back a little. You should move away from the left side (the right side on pattern #2) because the monster will jump on the platform, and stay grasped there for a little while. - [Whatever weapon you are using, just start COUNTING the number of ] [strikes you manage to perform before the monster throws a dart at ] [you. I can only tell you that this timing will always be *exactly*] [the same, so once you know it with your own timing, stick to it. ] - Ok so the monster jumps onto the platform, and will stay idle here for about 10 seconds. If you have a wide weapon, go slightly to the side of its head (not straight in front), and start slashing. If you are positionned right, you will be hitting at least 3 damage areas. - Just before the monster strikes a dart at you, move in a small half-circle. If you spot the little fin on the side of the head below the eye (it's beige), simply moving from one side of it to the other side will work perfectly. You need very little movement here to confuse the dart. Moving early is the key. - Now once the monster strikes a dart, you have time to place approx- imatly 1.5 to 2 "3 hit combos". If you start moving when you see the dart come up, it's too late. You wanna move just one second before that, so know your timing. - The monster will jump back into the water, go in back, jump over you, and raise it's tail and throw spikes at you. - This time, the monster will do the same thing, but to the RIGHT of the platform. Same pattern, same stuff. - At some point, the lights will come out. This will indicate to you a change in the pattern style. Now, the monster will go behind you. - Later on, the monster will be flying up the ceiling, coming from behind. This will cause some big rock fragments to fall on you. While it is coming at you, try and evaluate the scattering of rocks. You may find an empty spot , and just when it comes over your head, start running towards the back of the platform. - It will also emerge straight up, and throw lasers at you. These laser shots will scan the platform going from the Back towards the front. The best way to avoid it is to stand on one side of the platform (either left or right) and walk towards the other side. (from left to right or inverse). Start walking/run a bit before you hear the charge, otherwise you will get hit. (Again, timing is ultra constant here, just know it). Inbetween lasers, You have time to shoot twice at the head if you have a gun, or cast something if you have techniques. If you are in the Ranger class and your level 10 photon is charged, this is the absolute best moment to cast it. If you manage to exactly face the monster and cast your photon, you will actually hit all 10 or so body parts at the same time. (this is the only time so many parts are exposed). [4.02]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Robot monster thingye-MINES]=-------------------------------------=[] Well this one comes in two sections. Surprisingly I was expecting this one to be much harder than the GigaShrimp, but it is not the case. you should be around lvl 15-16 here.(more if you practiced/trained/ died often :) Suggested weapons: -a strong GUN with at least +15% MACHINE bonus. -a strong CLOSE RANGE weapon with at least +15% MACHINE bonus The fight begins in a huge, circle shaped computer room. You will notice that there is a central unit in the middle of the room's ceiling. You will also notice that there are TV screens all around the room. Finally, in front of every TV screen there will be Lightning rods which will emerge from the floor. For the first section of the monster (inside the room) you should have a GUN equipped. The pattern goes like this: - The middle part comes down, shoot at it until you have killed it. - When the middle part dies, you will notice on your radar that there is a yellow dot circling around the room. This represents the computer behind the TV screens. You must shoot at the screens which are red. (at some point, with enough abuse, the TV screens blow up. This is good). - When the computer has taken enough abuse, lightning rods will emerge from the floor. You should shoot at least the neareast ones. You should expect to get struck by lightning and heal. - When or soon after the rods come up, the middle part comes back down again. Shoot it down again, and the pattern starts all over. If you have no GUN equipped, or if you cannot use them, you will soon realize that you keep running around the room hunting for targets, and you should take lighning damage more often. Not only that, but the middle part will be near impossible to hit. (unless you use TP's). When everything starts exploding, you're far from being done, yet. At this point, you should hurry and equip a CLOSE RANGE weapon. Now before you appears a big robot. The best strategy here is to continually run around it, with a small distance. (let's say, mid range in between the wall and the monster). The pattern goes like this: - (when I mention run in circles, I mean run around the monster. Remember to reset your camera often while you do this) - The front panel of the monster opens up, and missiles are shot at you. Whenever you see the front panel open up, just run in circles and you won't get hit. After the missiles have missed you, you may place at least one combo in close range. - You should them see a red laser point at you. When this occurs, start running in circles again, immediatly. Failure to do so will get you crushed. While you run around, three pillars will come down. When the third one hits the floor, you may place one or two combos in close range. - Now the robot will either go back to shooting missiles, or it will show its face and you will see some charge buildup occur. When you see the monster charge, run right away, don't even try to place a combo. It will shoot a homing plasma ball, and if you get caught you will be frozen in rock. Now you don't want this to happen, because the abuse that comes afterwards if faily brutal. When you dodge the plasma ball, score a combo or two in close range. - The pattern repeats. - If you do this right, you won't even get damaged. Piece of cake. [4.02]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [Dark something-RUINS]=--------------------------------------------=[] With the right equipment, this will actually be quite easy. Again, this fight takes place in a rounded stage. You should be around lvl 20 here. (more if you practiced/trained/died often :) Suggested weapons: -a GUN! Yeah baby, don't leave home without it! preferably with a +DARK % bonus. This one is not much of a pattern, it's a bit more like there are 3 sections. - Part 1, when you touch the monolith, the stage will darken, and you will be surrounded by at least 100 spike drones. The only drones you can actually damage are the ones with a purple eye. Kill 3 of these, and you're on to the next part. A small trick here, with a gun or for TP users, this takes under two seconds to have completed. With a gun, just face towards the middle of the stage, where you expect alot of drones. Just fire blindly, and you will hit 3 almost for sure. Same goes for a quick technique like lighting, cast is repeatedly and it works. - Part 2, some huge dude mounted on a two head dragon (kinda) emerges. The pattern is quite simple, you should be shooting or slashing at the dragon heads, any one of them. While you are attacking, one of the dragon heads will spit out about 5-6 drones, so get these cleared out and continue hitting the head (make sure you are monitoring them on the radar). At some point the monster will cast either a frost storm or a meteor shower at you. Not easy to avoid, so get ready to heal. Pattern repeats until you make enough damage. - Now the monster will get rid of the dragon section, and move towards the edge of the stage. If you have a gun, this will be fairly easy. You will want to move very close to the monster, right at the edge, but not quite in front of it, since it's one of his attack areas. From this side position, start shooting at the stomach part. Should you only have close combat weapons, this will be much harder. You will have to stand in front, and stike at the stomach. The problem is that the monster will be bopping up and down, only exposing the hittable area temporarily. While it bops, the monster will cast spells at you. Kill it and that's it! You have completed the game! ------ Completing the game will unlock the next difficulty level. [7.00]=------------------------------------------------------------=[] [USELESS TRIVIA AND SOME BUGS]=------------------------------------=[] This is a totally useless section, just here to mention some weird stuff that has been spotted in the game. I've seen alot of strange things, but right now I'll put my energy somewhere else! - If you open a telepipe on the bridge of FOREST2, when you come back you will be walking on water! - When you enter an empty boss room, there's a chance that your MAG will cast boosts on you anyways! - If you get crushed by the Red dragon in Forest stage when it falls because you killed it, you will be awarded the kill, you will NOT get the EXP points, and you will lose your money/item even if you can go down and get the crates. (I couldn't reproduce this, but I did lose all my stuff for no reason) - If you have a save game on a VMU or 4X card, and you bring it to a friend's place, your games will be corrupted! They seem to only work on the dreamcast they were saved from. (I've tested this on 3 dreamcasts up to now, I need feed-back on this if my info is correct). ** While on vacation, I discovered this game and fell in love with it. ** 3 days after starting playing, this FAQ was released, the game was ** completed, and I had a few level 20+ characters. I finished this ** game a few hours before my vacation was over and I had to go back ** at work :) ** ** Now I'm back from vacation, but this gaming rush was quite enjoyable! ** Thank you to everyone involved in creating this game, I was very ** impressed. Congrats on the music score and Mine level. Awesome! ** ** See ya online Jan 21, look for my chars with the call sign [LoG].