F I N A L F A N T A S Y I & I I : D A W N O F S O U L S \\// *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== File: Final Fantasy I | _______________________/ | Solo Challenges _________________-- > THIEF / NINJA *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [TAOC] Table of Contents *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Version History............................................[VEHI] I. Preface.................................................[PRFC] II. Starting Out/Garland...................................[BEGG] III. Pravoka...............................................[PVKA] IV. 15 Slider Puzzle!......................................[PUZZ] V. Elfheim, Astos..........................................[ELFM] VI. Trades and Treasures...................................[NTRO] VII. The Earth Crystal.....................................[EACR] VIII. Class Upgrade Quest..................................[NNJA] IX. The Fire Crystal.......................................[FICR] X. The Water Crystal.......................................[WACR] XI. The Wind Crystal.......................................[WICR] XII. Loose Ends............................................[XTRA] XIII. The Chaos Shrine.....................................[KAOS] XIV. Odds and Ends.........................................[OVXR] Version History Feb. 09, 2013 (started) Complete up to class change. Feb 13, 2013 Reformatted to 78 char/line, expanded up to Wind Crystal Feb 17, 2013: v1 Finished, submitted to GameFAQs *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [PRFC] Preface *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Hi, this is modal here with a solo Thief/Ninja challenge walkthrough for the re-made Final Fantasy I for the Game Boy Advanced. Throughout the guide, I will beassuming you have already played through the game at least once. Alongside White Mage/White Wizard solo games, Thief/Ninja solo runs are arguably the most fun and challenging way to extend the life of this timeless RPG. So, let's jump right in. This guide utilizes the "search" command - Ctrl + F on Windows computers, and Cmd + F on Macs. Type in the keyword you're looking for - or more conveniently the four character designation marked in the Table of Contents [TAOC] next to the section in question. As already stated, THIS GUIDE ASSUMES YOU HAVE PLAYED THROUGH THE GAME AT LEAST ONCE ALREADY. I will assume you already understand the controls, the map, the basic mechanics of the game, etc. - and strive more to give you tips on the more challenging aspects of a solo run. Which brings me to my last point - a SOLO RUN is defined as - - ONE character is alive, the whole game. No other character is allowed to get EXP, use items, magic, nothing. - Some solo challenges disallow the stat boost/class upgrade at the Citadel of Trials - this challenge does not. -...Tying in with the above, this guide should help you acquire the class upgrade (and accompanied stat boosts) at as early a level as possible. With that out of the way...start up your game, and let's get ready for one of the best challenges the FF series can throw at us. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [BEGG] Starting Out / Garland *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== So, start off the game, run into Cornelia. Go talk to the guard and get dragged to the king's chamber, talk with him, exit the castle then stop by the weapon shop and pick up ONE Rapier, then the armor shop and pick up ONE Leather Armor. While it may seem tempting to sell your unneeded equipment, don't - it will make getting your three characters killed much easier if you hold on to it. Proceed to get three of your thieves killed in a random battle. Usually I unequip all of their armor and weapons, then use the "Item" command to use them in battle (which does nothing). Once three of them are down I equip a Rapier and Leather Armor to my remaining member and go at the remaining enemies. Save once you've done this. Go back to Cornelia and sell all the equipment you don't need. Buy at least ten potions, certainly no less. Start killing Goblins/Wolves outside of Cornelia - keep close so you can heal up at the Inn (remember, the Inn is 10gil less costly than using a precious potion) - and grind until around level five. Then head northwest to the Chaos Shrine. AS you near the Shrine, watch out for Crazy Horses - they can deal a lot more damage than the Goblins or Wargs do, and kill you in two or three hits. So keep an eye on your HP. Go inside the Shrine and interact with Garland... _______________ GARLAND //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 212 Agl: 6 Treasure: Longsword Atk: 15 Int: 12 250 Gil Acc: 27 Eva: 12 130 EXP Def: 8 MDf: 64 ==================================================== This isn't too bad. As long as you're above Lv.5 or Lv.6 you should be fine, and by Lv.7 this becomes a walk in the park. Keep your HP floating above 35 or so; Garland has the nasty habit of landing critical hits when you think you can forego healing for another round. Just keep putting the pressure on him; with no regen spells or magic this battle is pretty straightforward. For beating him, you are awarded a Longsword, which a Thief cannot use, 250 Gil, and a nice 130 EXP. After bringing Garland down, a cutscene starts...and poof, you're back at the Cornelia castle. Speed through the dialogue and grab the Lute from the princess, then watch yet another cutscene. Spend all of your money on Potions, rest at the Inn, and then head for Pravoka. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [PVKA] Pravoka *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Watch the cutscene and read the text. Head north on the bridge, then east. You will begin to face some rather challenging monsters around this time - but more on that a little later. When you get to Pravoka you will want to do a couple things before challenging the Pirate crew. Go to the southeast corner of the town and buy a Scimitar; next, head to the opposite corner of town (southwest) and replenish your Potion supply. Rest at the Inn if you're heavily hurt - it's cheaper than using a bunch of Potions. Finally, make sure to pick up the Leather Gloves at the armor shop. Unfortunately, it is now time to grind some EXP. Get up to Lv.10+ in the grass outside of Pravoka. While grinding like this, MAKE SURE NOT TO STRAY TOO FAR TO THE EAST. You will then be in the "Peninsula of Power" area - which really, is just far too risky for me. So keep close to the northern walls of Pravoka, or by the dock. Monsters to watch for - Ghasts can inflict you with the fatal Paralysis status, since you won't be able to use a restorative item your thief will just sit there and get pummeled. Ogres and Lizards are both decently bulky (~100HP each, similar Atk and Agl stats) - except Ogres give FOUR TIMES the amount of Gil and about 25% more EXP than Lizards. Warg Wolves are lethal until about Lv.10, when you can often drop them in one hit. When you think you're ready, save, and go talk to the Pirate Captain, Bikke. He's in front of the bar, above where the item shop is. _______________ PIRATE x 9 //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 24 Agl: 6 Treasure: Leather Shield Atk: 10 Int: 3 360 Gil Acc: 2 Eva: 12 360 EXP Def: 0 MDf: 35 Pirate Ship ==================================================== This can be a doozie of a battle if you don't get lucky. At this point in the game your Eva starts to matter - a lot - and should be sitting above 70. Anything less and the Pirates won't miss enough to give you an opportunity to strike back. Gameplan here is to play very conservatively. Keep your HP above 70 until about halfway through the battle - after you take down four or five pirates the battle gets much quicker. The pirates can inflict upwards of 100 points of damage on you in one round...so keep that in mind when deciding whether or not to heal this round or put it off one more. I was sitting at Lv.11 - you should have no problem if you're at Lv.15 like some other Thief players suggest. So you finally beat the Pirates, you get a Leather Shield (useless for a Thief), and almost 400 Gil and EXP. Okay, cool. Oh, and the badass Pirate Ship. Almost forgot about that. Gain another level or two if you'd like, then head due south from the port of Pravoka. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [PUZZ] 15 Slider Puzzle! *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== So now that you have the ship, you should guarantee your future success by winning a few choice items from the 15 Slider Puzzle game. Hold A and press B 23 times and a little mini-game will pop up. The goal is to line the numbers up in ascending order from left to right. This is an incredibly tedious and, to be honest, actually a really good brain warm-up for you to do daily. But... we know why you're really here. Prizes you can win: 0:30:00 or less = X-Potion 1:00:00 or less = Dry Ether, Elixir, Emergency Exit, Hermes' Shoes, Remedy 2:00:00 or less = Blue/Red/White Curtain, Blue/Red/White/Vampire Fang, Spider's Silk, Cockatrice Claw 2:00:01 or more = 100 Gil, Antidote, Echo Grass, Ether, Eye Drops, Gold Needle, Phoenix Down, Potion Honestly, we only care about the X-Potions (we're aiming for 10 of them), and one each of the Curtains and Hermes' Shoes. These powerful items cast magic we don't have access to, and will make our encounter with the Lich MUCH more relaxing (and additionally, relieve any need to grind EXP mindlessly). The game is challenging; but eventually, you'll start to get pretty good at it (and probably start feeling a little smarter, too.). It's hard to explain simply how to win at this game - without awful and clumsy ASCII art, at least. So, I will leave some links at the bottom of this section to help you out. The basic idea is to get the [1], [2], [3] in place, then get the [4] underneath the bottom right corner. This will leave an open space in the bottom right corner, which will allow you to shift the outside perimeter over one space and the [4] up to where it belongs. Basically, the idea is to leave space where you're going to need it. You repeat the above process for the first three numbers of every row, in essence. It's actually pretty simple in theory - keep things in order but out of the way. The first three rows can all be solved in a similar fashion as the first row; however, the last row is often much more difficult. Generally, you just want to examine the situation and figure out logically, how to keep the order there but move the numbers out of the places they're in. FOr example: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [1o][11][12] [15] [13] [14 ] See a solution? It's actually quite simple. 1) Move [14] over to the empty space. 2) Move [12] down, with [11] and [10] next to it 3) Move [15] up, and [13] and [14] shift to the left 4) Move [10] down, move [9] to the right 5) [15] goes to the right, [13] up, [14] left 6) [15] moves down, [9] goes left, [10] comes up 7) Shift everything counterclockwise one space. Voila! Anyway. Whether or not you get it or not, I found this game to be a pretty easy way to guarantee solo-character runs are a success at a relatively low level. Of course, there are other ways. But anything you win here - even if it's just a couple of Hermes' Shoes or X-Potions, will be a HUGE help against a boss battle in the near future. Pictures, and explains it better: http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/15puzzle.htm You can also apparently cheat: http://www.ic-net.or.jp/home/takaken/e/15pz/index.html *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [ELFM] Elfheim, Astos *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== A quick note - you're going to want to run away from pretty much everything you run into on the high seas. Unless you're at or above Lv.20, there's nothing that you can easily beat that isn't just a waste of Potions. Just run away. Be especially wary of the BigEyes enemy, as it will relentlessly use Gaze on you and inflict Para status. Sail out of the cove Pravoka is nestled in, then follow the coast on the right side of the screen south. The land will hook back in and you'll make landing at a dock. Leave the ship and head south into Elfheim. Pick up a Leather Cap at the armor shop, grab a Saber (if you want. It's less accurate than your Scimitar and accuracy is incredibly important on a solo run. Your call.) from the weapons shop and then, of course, stock up on Potions and Antidotes, and even Tents if you feel so inclined. When you're ready to head out, head west, then south, to Marsh Cave. When you enter the cave head south at both the first and the second fork - it's quite possible you'll make it down the ladder in that southmost room before you even have to deal with a monster. Should you be that fortunate, save. On Marsh Cave B2 you'll be sitting in a room with three doors, all exiting to the same larger cavern - exit the one closest to right in front of you. Head due south and ignore all the other little caverns. When you hit the far wall, head east along that southmost wall until you come to a door - which opens up into a room that once again, takes you east - exit the room and head down the stairs to B3. Well by now you've most certainly encountered a monster or two. As a general rule I would say run from the following creatures: Ghasts and Wights (Par. status is a game over), Green Slimes (255 Def!!!), Bloodbones (general heavy hitter), and lastly Piscodemons (if you're under 150HP you're in the killzone if you encounter two or more). Of course there is later an unavoidable fixed Piscodemon battle. Anyway, you're at B3! Last floor. Head east, again, then south, again. You'll notice that this floor is laid out in a sensible, grid formation. I recommend (it's not mandatory by any means) stopping at the far west room in the second row to pick up a Copper Armlet. It will replace your Leather Armor and give you a slightly raised Eva stat. Either way, proceed to the third row of little rooms and enter the second room in from the west. Here you will fight a random number of Piscodemons - BE CAREFUL. Piscos have some solid defensive stats (84HP, 66EVA) coupled with a decent 30Atk, which is more than enough to deal some serious damage to your frail thief. Take them out and grab the Crown from the chest. If you're having trouble here, it's a good idea to save at the square before the Piscodemon's come out and attack you - that way you can force the game to give you just two, instead of something absurd like four. Backtrack out of the cave taking the same path you used to get to the Crown, except in reverse. Head north (and briefly east) to the Western Keep - where you will fight Astos. _______________ ASTOS //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 420 Agl: 39 Treasure: Mythril Sword Atk: 30 Int: 24 2000 Gil Acc: 42 Eva: 78 2250 EXP Def: 18 MDf: 170 Crystal Eye ==================================================== Astos is hands down the most difficult enemy you've encountered in the game thus far. Decent all around stats, plus an arsenal of deadly magic (including Death and the second-stage elemental magics) make for a very difficult boss fight. The elf-king would be often leads off with Death - which WILL instantly end the game for you about 80% of the time if you're under Lv.20 - and, should that fail, will follow up with Slowra on your thief and usually Haste on himself. If that setup happens, you're actually doing alright. Astos will start using physical attacks more with Haste cast on him, which keeps you alive and away from his devastating elemental magic. Should you get lucky enough to avoid both Death and Slowra, you should be able to simply out-muscle him with a brute force strategy. WITH Slowra it becomes a bit more difficult because you're only hitting for 10 or 20 damage each attack. The thief depends on his speed to inflict damage, unlike the warrior class (who hit for more damage, less times). Regardless of what strategy Astos uses against you, your goal is to keep as much damage coming at him as possible. HP isn't all that important because it's really not worth keeping up on it when a Death spell could be right around the corner. If you whittle him down 200-250HP, and you haven't been seeing much of Death, keep your HP above 80 or 90 and you should be good to go. Slowra will inevitably slow you down but if you persevere, Astos will fall. If you happen to have an extra Hermes' Shoes, cast Haste and it will make this battle much easier. When you do eventually topple the Dark Elf, you will be handsomely rewarded - a Mythril Sword, 2000 Gil, 2250 EXP, and a key item, the Crystal Eye. Head back to Elfheim and stock up. Rest at the Inn. Then head back to your boat and sail due north to the port of Cornelia. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [NTRO] Trades and Treasures *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== We get a brief reprieve from the action; it's time to run some errands. From Cornelia, head north over the bridge (like you were going to Pravoka), only instead of heading east, head northwest where the mountains start. Head as north as you can and you'll reach Matoya's Cave. When you walk into where Matoya is you'll watch a quick scene. After the scene, give Matoya her eye. You'll receive the Jolt Tonic from her - then proceed to the left of the screen and raid her three treasure chests. Leave and head back to Elfheim ***NOTE: The reason I leave the ship down at Cornelia instead of up further by Matoya's Cave is because I would rather fight the easy monsters on land than the stronger monsters on the sea. Plus, you have to go back to Elfheim anyway - so you wouldn't be saving yourself much time. However, there is a port north of Cornelia that *is* closer. I just wouldn't bother using it.*** At Elfheim, go in the castle and give the Prince the Jolt Tonic. He'll give you the Mystic Key. A lot of little treasure hunts open up now. Here's a list; from what I feel is most return on your risk, to least return: Castle Cornelia --- Cottage, Saber, Mythril Knife, Iron Armor, Tent, Nitro Powder You have to go here for the Nitro Powder. This could technically be your only stop out of all of these; the Mythril does a good job offensively, and just sell the rest of the stuff. I'd still recommend dropping by the Chaos Shrine, but everything else is entirely up to you. Though this is the most useful stop on the way to Mt. Duergar, it should definitely be your last - it's in a very convenient location. Chaos Shrine --- Rune Blade, Werebuster, Gold Needle There's no reason not to revisit the Chaos Shrine. You have to go to Cornelia anyway; why pass up a decent weapon, and two things you can sell? Elfheim Castle Grounds --- Mythril Hammer, 1500 Gil, Bronze Gloves You're already here, but sadly if it wasn't for the Gil it still probably would not be worth it. Both the equipment doesn't equip to thieves, so you'll have to just sell it. But at least it isn't Marsh Cave... Marsh Cave B3 --- Antidote, 1020 Gil, Silver Armlet I really, really, wish I could say the Silver Armlet is worth going through this hellhole, but it isn't. I guess it isn't TOO far out of your way, but there's just so many easy ways to die in Marsh Cave. The Antidote and Gil are certainly not worth it; so it's your choice. Additionally, you can buy the Silver Armlet very soon anyway. As long as you save often you don't have too much to worry about. But it's still rather time consuming, and I'd rather just buy it in Melmond. Western Keep --- Falchion, Power Staff, Steel Gloves You can't use any of this stuff. Falchion would be good if it was thief- accessible, but sadly it isn't. If you go to Marsh Cave you don't really have a good reason NOT to go here, though. Personally, I leave this and Marsh Cave off my list of attractions. Anyway, after you're satisfied with your looting, set sail for Mt. Duergar (and make sure you picked up the Nitro Powder at Cornelia!). Make sure to make a quick stop at Cornelia's item shop for any Potions you'll need, because the next town you're headed to doesn't have an item shop. Sail all the way to the west of the sea, then follow that coast north until you get to a dock. Dock it, stick to the coast and head south until you can't anymore. You'll see a cave to the west - Mt. Duergar. Inside, you'll find there is plenty of treasure - but forego that for now, and run to the southmost point of the tunnel system. Give the dwarf down there all alone the Nitro Powder, and he'll blast a canal for you! What a guy. Watch the cool effects then proceed to go around and collect your treasures from the many different rooms; don't miss anything, there's plenty of resale value here: Tent, Great Helm, Wyrmkiller, Ether, a Potion, Mythril Mail, 575 Gil, and a Cottage are all strewn about Mt. Duergar. At least pick up the Wyrmkiller, it's the best weapon you've gotten up to this point by a long shot, at least if you missed the Rune Blade. Double check the list, now return to the ship and sail right on through. Melmond, your next destination, will be right in front of you if you continue sailing west. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [EACR] The Earth Crystal *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== There isn't much to be said for Melmond. The weapon shop has nothing very interesting for us thieves, sans a Falchion if you missed the chest (as if you really want it anyway). You can pick up a Silver Armlet here; do so if you didn't backtrack to Marsh Cave B3 and get it after you received the Mystic Key. And that's all there is in Melmond. Head south, sticking along the coastline next to Melmond, and take the land bridge when you come to it. Keep to the coast until the mountains divide, then take the path in between and enter the cave on the right of the screen. Now you have an important decision to make. Directly to your west is the "Hall of Giants". YOu will encounter strong, and very rewarding creatures called Hill Gigas. They reward you with 879 Gil and 879 EXP - which will put you in a very good spot at this point in the game. A lot of runners use this opportunity, similarly to the peninsula by Pravoka, to grind endlessly to an obscenely high level then breeze through the rest of the game - this is a perfectly viable strategy. I will not be using that strategy. Why? Skip to section [NNJA] for more info... So after you bulk up in the Hall of Giants, should you choose to do so, head east from the entrance down the "straight-east" (rather than the southeast) path, which will bring you to a set of stairs. Go down them to B2F. Now head south until you can't anymore, then follow the path until you, again, can't anymore - take the south path. It will continue east for a while, then stop at the stairs down to B3F. Yes, there are a lot of chests in the Earth Cavern. But 90% of it is useless or Gil, which, you really shouldn't be in too desperate need of. You can grab the Coral Sword on B2F if you really must have it...it's about on par with the Wyrmkiller. If you didn't practice in the Hall of Giants at all, be VERY wary of the enemies you're now facing - Minotaurs, gangs of six or seven Cobras/ Anacondas...all dangerous. Be aware of your surroundings. Anyhow, B3F. Follow the path east until it splits, then head north, then enter the door on the left. You'll fight an Earth Elemental; dispose of him then open the chest for a cool 3,400 Gil. Exit the room and continue west. Inside the next door you'll see is a room full of no enemies but Earth Elementals - so if you're feeling like some more grinding is in order, step in and show 'em who's boss. If not, continue on the path and turn east with it. The next door (on the north face of the cave) houses 1,020 Gil and more Earth Elementals. Head south afterwards, follow the path and enter the door. Talk to the bat to begin the Vampire boss battle. _______________ VAMPIRE //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 280 Agl: 36 Treasure: 2000 Gil Atk: 76 Int: 26 1200 EXP Acc: 39 Eva: 72 Def: 26 MDf: 75 ==================================================== The only super difficult aspect of Vampire is that he has Para status inducing spells (Gaze). Usually you'll stay Para for 2-3 rounds then come out of it, assuming he hasn't re-cast it. The problem is, in 2-3 rounds he can easily drop you to zero HP. The Rune Blade is very effective here, inflicting well over 150 damage on a crit. to Vampire even if you're barely leveled. This battle is like an easier version of Astos - but there's still some luck involved. Alternatively, you leveled up to Lv.45 and dropped him in one hit. Whatever. Anyhow, the second aspect of Vampire to watch for is his Regen ability - every turn, Vampire will heal back a fractional amount of HP - but it adds up. While you're wasting entire turns on Potions, he's keeping the pressure on you AND healing. It's a tricky situation to be in; but with the Rune Blade and a tiny bit of luck, you'll be good. Dropping Vampire sadly doesn't net you any cool rewards, other than an okay chunk of EXP and Gil. Grab the Star Ruby in the chest behind where Vampire was and backtrack out of the Cavern of Earth. Head towards Melmond. Where the rocks split and you went southeast towards Cavern of Earth when coming from Melmond, now you will bear left and go west. Giant's Cave is in plain sight. Present the Giant with the Star Ruby. Head south and collect the Great Axe, 1,070 Gil, and a Mythril Helm. Head north and you'll go up a flight of stairs and come out on the world map. Take the obvious path and enter Sage's Cave. Pretty self-explanatory. Follow the path and receieve the Earth Rod from the man. Return to the Cavern of Earth and follow the same directions as I gave you a few paragraphs up, until you reach the chamber where you fought the Vampire and got the Star Ruby. ***NOTE: Upon re-entering the Cavern of Earth, realize this will be your last easy go at the Hall of Giants. Less-experienced players will find it very difficult to beat the coming boss without a couple of levels under their belt.*** Exit the Vampire's room through the other door on the east side of where you just entered, then follow the path. You'll probably fight Piscodemons (you might not, but you probably will), then investigate the rock at the apparent dead end. The power of the Earth Rod moves it aside. Descend further into the Cavern of Earth. Follow the path when you enter B4F; head north when given a choice to go collect some serious Gil and fight some good EXP monsters. Grab the >10,000 Gil and go back down to the other path you didn't take. You can get some goodies along this path as well, but they're mostly useless (1,250 Gil, Mythril Shield, Tent). Save your HP for Lich. Make your way to the northwest corner of the floor and you'll find the stairs to B5F. Simply cut north up the closest passage, follow it to the west, and you'll see a door. Walk through and examine Lich. It's boss fight time!!! _______________ LICH //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 1200 Agl: 12 Treasure: Dry Ether Atk: 40 Int: 30 3000 Gil Acc: 49 Eva: 24 2200 EXP Def: 40 MDf: 120 ==================================================== Lich is the worst of a bad bunch; high HP, high defenses, high attacking stats, and a limitless supply of our old arch-nemesis, Paralysis. To make matters worse, Lich also has Slow and Haste, the former which fizzles a thief's attacks almost completely, and the latter which lets Lich deliver even MORE punishment FASTER - IN ADDITION, Lich's Hold spell casts instant Para, he has Sleepra, his physical attack has an added 20% chance to add Para, and finally, is accompanied with the usual host of elemental magic (Blizzara, Thundara, Fira). All you need is: 1x Hermes' Shoes (Haste) Blue Curtain (NulFrost) Red Curtain (NulBlaze) White Curtain (NulShock) 10x X-Potion* *you can make do with as few as five. But it's almost impossible to get that lucky. So bring 10. Yes, it's incredibly annoying and difficult to do the puzzle game that quickly. But it's the easiest way to do it without grinding. Also, if you have no idea what I'm talking about please refer to section [PUZZ]. So assuming you grabbed these items from the 15 Slider Puzzle game on the ship, go about using them. Drop all your NulXs, X-Potion up, drop a Haste and go to town on him. You WILL NOT need more than one Haste or NulX. You WILL need at least five or six X-Potions, and in conjunction upwards of fifteen regular Potions (if you have 10+ X-Potions you'll be fine, though.). You probably won't win the first time, but you will get the strategy down. Recommended Lv.25 + Okay, so 15 Puzzle not your thing? Go to Crescent Lake (southeast corner of the world map - you can't miss it, it's literally a lake in the shape of a crescent moon.) and spend every last dime on Hi-Potions. If you're Lv.29 or above, you SHOULD be able to get lucky once and pull off a win. The key is to hit as many times before Lich inevitably casts Slow - if you can get a lucky 2-3 crit. hits in on him in a row, you'll be dealing 500+ damage to him pretty quickly. The only thing that Lich DOESN'T have going for him is his lack of recovery magic, which is lucky for us because this guy would be unbeatable with recovery. Recommended Lv. 29 + (this will take a while at Lv.29) *Note: you can also pick up the Buckler shield in Crescent Lake, which will improve your defenses.* Another way of doing it is simply leveling up to Lv.40 - Lv.50 and just pounding away on him. This ruins the reward of an early-ish class up, but if all you care about is progressing in the game then this is probably the route for you. Recommended Lv. 40 + So, one way or another, finish Lich off. Now comes the fun part. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [NNJA] Class Upgrade Quest {optional} *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Yes, it's optional...but it really isn't. Upgrading your class as early as you can (level-wise) is a good way to ensure great stats quickly. For a thief, it means a considerable boost in all stats and the AWESOME boost of being able to use Atk/Agl increasing Black magic - primarily, Temper and Haste. You can also equip a wider array of armor and weapons. In short, there's no reason not to class upgrade. Honestly, it isn't even that difficult of a quest. First things first - head back to Melmond, heal up, stock up on whatever you need to stock up on. Then hop on your ship and sail to Crescent Lake. If you haven't been there yet, check you map (B+Select on the overworld screen). See that crescent-shaped lake in the southeast? Yep, you guessed it. Head southwest from Melmond and sail around to the other side of the world; you should pop out just where there's a piece of land jutting out, which happens to have a port just for you! If you're good at the 15 Puzzle, win an Emergency Exit or two as some good luck charms. Dock, then head towards the town (keep towards the middle of the land mass and you should be able to find it no problem.). Watch for some interesting new monsters. Trolls can hit hard and have Regen; you'll meet a new monster, Ankheg - sporting a 222 HP stat and an Atk stat that rivals Lich's. I recommend running from everything except the standard fare - i.e., Gigas worms, Goblins, Wargs, etc. Even Hill Gigas can be brought down with some confidence - and as we know, the rewards are worth it. But I'd hold off on the power leveling for just a bit. So walk into Crescent Lake. Heal up at the Inn, and buy a couple of Hi-Potions at the shop. Also buy the Buckler if you haven't yet. Head to the northeastern part of town, behind the Black Magic shop. Follow the path east and talk to the sages to receive a canoe. Now, you COULD use this canoe to go to the Fire Crystal and progress the story. But we are definitely not going to do that. Instead, leave Crescent Lake and head back to your ship. Head due north and enter the estuary with your canoe. Head north through both forks, then keep to the left at the next fork. At the next fork head west and then south with the path. Make sure you have your Coral Sword equipped! It makes light work of the aquatic monsters you fight while in the canoe. Disembark and enter the Cavern of Ice B1! *Note: there's a lot of Gil in treasure chests in here. We're gonna blow through this though - you want the Gil, find it on your own time. This dungeon can be VERY challenging due to the stong monsters. SAVE OFTEN! GIL-HUNT AT YOUR OWN RISK! Head west (obviously). Follow the path, taking the first stairway you see. Go around the middle pillar thing and head down the stairs. Take the other set of stairs in the next room, then head around the center room in this fourth room - enter it when you see the door. Fall through the cracks - the chests are both empty anyway - and land in a little room where you'll most likely face a forced encounter. Flee if you can; the monsters in here, as I said, are pretty strong. Head south, walk onto the spikes, stay to the right at both forks then walk up the stairs. Grab the Ether in front of you then exit the room. Head to the right and enter the room, fall down through the crack in the middle (FYI - from left to right, the chests contain 9,500 Gil, a Sleeping Bag, and an Ice Shield). Go for the Levistone and you'll be attacked by a Death Eye. Seriously I don't know why people still call it a boss. One or two hits should do it. Grab the Stone and let's get the hell out of this awful dungeon. Canoe allthe way back to your ship with your shiny new Levistone, and head to the Ryukahn Desert, which can be found a little south of Crescent Lake. Check your map, and you'll see it. You can land at another little delta. Just hop out and walk into the desert to be awarded your brand spanking new AIRSHIP! Right on. Now let's get weird. Anyhow. We've got one dungeon left before we can officially call ourselves a solo-Ninja. Head south from the Desert until you're on the northern-most continent. Then head towards the center mass of the western "wing" of the continent. It kind of looks like a castle from the overworld. You'll have to park the airship FAR away. Which unfortunately means a whole lot of strong monsters coming at you. Flee when you can, save often. You won't have to run for much longer. Enter the Citadel of Trials. Talk to the man in the middle of the room and he will vanish. Go to the northwest corner and step onto the throne - you'll be transported to the Citadel of Trials 2F. The first two warp points are self- explanatory; in the room with two warps, take the bottom one. Take the obvious progression then take the bottom one, again. Follow the long path and continue, then take the warp point closest to you. Head east then south and take the warp point furthest away from you in this little triad of warp points. Citadel of Trials 3F is up the stairs. Head north and grab the Healing Staff. Next go west and grab the Ruby Armlet, Ice Brand, and Steel Gloves. Head south and pick up the 8,755 Gil in chests, along with the Gauntlets and Cottage. Follow the path right and grab the Rat's Tail. You can now either Emergency Exit out or take the throne, but if you take the throne you'll have to fight a Dragon Zombie. We haven't done a boss fight lately, so lets take a look. _______________ DRAGON ZOMBIE //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 268 Agl: 12 Treasure: Megalixer Atk: 56 Int: 26 999 Gil Acc: 67 Eva: 24 2331 EXP Def: 30 MDf: 135 ==================================================== **NOTE: If the game forces you to fight more than one Dragon just reset and try again. There's no reason to fight more than one if you can prevent it. You can win Red Fangs from the 15 Puzzle Game and make this a relatively quick fight. Dragon Zombie's only offensive option is a physical attack, which yes, can inflict Para. But he's kind of a lightweight, especially compared to Lich, or even the Vampire - at least he had Regen. Your equipment setup should include a Buckler and Ruby Armlet; and make sure you have the Wyrmkiller weapon equipped, because it deals extra damage to Dragon-typed enemies. At LV.30 I dropped this bad boy in two hits with Wyrmkiller, so I don't foresee any difficulties here - the only reason I typically avoid this encounter is because it will, almost invariably, rank you up right before the class change (which serves no purpose). Secondly, I don't have many recovery items to waste healing off 300+ damage. So it's ultimately your choice, but the Emergency Exit works better for me. Return to the airship and head west to the Dragon Caves. If you're having trouble finding them just head to the Citadel of Trials and go southwest, you can't miss the island chain. Starting from the island closest to the Citadel: ========= Island 1 ========= 19,770 Gil, X-Potion Make sure you grab ALL the goodies in here - there's two little rooms in the cave and some people forget to grab the ~12,000 gil to the west side. ========= Island 2 ========= 500 Gil, Elixer, Cottage The small island north from island one has nothing in it. The large island to the west is Hellfire Chasm, which doesn't intrest us right now. However, the cave west of Hellfire Chasm contains an Elixer, Cottage, and 500 Gil. Grab it. Fly north onto the island with two caves, head into the south one. ========== Island 3 ========= CLASS CHANGE!!!! Follow the really long path to the stairs, then follow the next really long path up to Bahamut. After some brief dialog he'll upgrade your class! The game gets much easier to complete now, mostly because you can equip a lot more weapons and learn black magic. So equip that Ice Brand you picked up, as well as a helm. Leave the cave and ignore the other cave on this island. Head west to the last island. ========= Island 4 ========= Tent, Gold Needle, Dry Ether Honestly you can skip this if you want. Just grab the items and leave; then hop in the airship. There's a number of places you can go now; with the airship, the limitations are really only how fast you want to be done with the game. You can head straight for Crescent Lake now and take on the Fire Crystal or travel the world and pick up some cool new equipment, get some black magic equipped to your shiny new Ninja class, and grind out a few levels. If you want to progress with the storyline simply search for [FICR] and skip this part. Otherwise, read on! Now that you're a Ninja, there's a few things you should know. First off, and arguably most important, you can now use Level 4 and under Black Magic. This is a huge help, because this is inclusive of two of the most important stat- boosting spells in the game. Temper and Haste will become your new best friends. Buy the Lv.1 elemental magic if you want in Cornelia (I wouldn't bother, you can rely on Fangs from the 15 Puzzle game for elemental damage), but DEFINITELY head to Pravoka to pick up Temper. I also snagged Slow and Blind while I was here, because...well, because why not? Next run to Elfheim and grab all of the stage two Elemental spells, as well as Haste and possibly Sleepra if you'd like. Finally, head to Gaia, which is the town found in the most northeastern point on the world map. Here you can buy the Protect Ring, a helpful addition to your defenses - and also, blocks the Death spell from taking effect, which makes it the perfect addition to your inventory. It is also very advisable that you stock up on Hi-Potions while you're here. It's about time to continue on with the story. Head towards Crescent Lake, but instead keep heading west towards a big volcano. This is Mt. Gulg - and it's time for you to make a visit to the Fire Crystal. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [FICR] The Fire Crystal *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Enter Mt. Gulg! The lava will hurt you when you walk on it, so try to keep the firewalking to a minimum (1 point of damage for each step. Hope you have a nice stockpile of recovery items!). The monsters here will be kind of weak, since you should be sitting around Lv.30 by now. You are also free to level up as much as you want; there shouldn't be too much fleeing anymore because there is no reason not to fight everything you come in contact with. You want to be sure to fight a couple battles before you reach the bottom of Mt. GUlg and fight Marilith, because you want some MP built up from some level-ups. Also, take note of the fact that the Ice Brand you picked up in the Citadel of Trials will be inflicting some serious damage on the monsters in Mt. Gulg - due to it's typing (Ice). Anyway, head west and keep to the north wall and you'll find your staircase down to Mt. Gulg B2. You can head straight here and get to the next level. Or take the incredibly long way and collect all of the (admittedly useless) items. If you take the path less traveled (entering the door and following the labyrinth of items), you'll be rewarded with some Gil, a Great Sword, some recovery items, and a full set of Mythril equipment. Woo. Mt. Gulg B3 has no reward to the west so head east. Follow the straightforward path and go down the stairs. Remember to heal, because you're taking damage with every step. Head south in Mt. Gulg B4 until you hit a wall, on the west side of the cavern, then trace the wall and head east. Go up the stairs. Back on B3, head west for the first two caves, then head south until you cannot go any more south. Head west and go down the stairs. Again on B4, ignore the door (or go through and pick up the Gil and Gold Needle). At the intersection you can go west and pick up some Gil, another Ice Brand, and a Flame Shield (which has the same defensive stats as an Ice Shield, which you could've snagged earlier. If you didn't, go make the detour and get the Flame Shield). There's some more Gil in the door closest to that intersection. At the NEXT intersection there is yet another Ice Brand to the east. It's safe to say you can ignore that and continue south to the next stairway. Finally on Mt. Gulg B5, go to the west and pick up the Flame Mail. While it may bolster your defenses a bit more than the Ruby Armlet, it lowers your Eva just enough to discourage me from using it. Your call though. The only other items down here are Gold Needles, which I skipped. You can run around and level up a little bit if you want. When you're ready, use an MP - recovering item (an Elixer, most likely), and head to the southwest chamber in the cavern. Time for another boss! _______________ MARILITH //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 1440 Agl: 24 Treasure: Golden Apple Atk: 40 Int: 32 3000 Gil Acc: 63 Eva: 48 2475 EXP Def: 60 MDf: 183 ==================================================== Uh, well, you could use Red Curtains to cast NulBlaze on you, or whatever, but after a Temper and a Haste you should be dealing between 400 and 600 points of damage on Marilith each hit. As long as you survive the first two attacks, which generally are her weak physical attack, you should win this first try every time. I wish I had more to say about this battle, but I really don't - it really is just that easy. If you ARE for some odd reason having trouble with Marilith, try Sleepra or COnfuse, she is susceptible to both. You can also inflict Para on her but I've honestly never seen it work. Finish Marilith quickly and exit Mt. Gulg. It's on to the Water Crystal! *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [WACR] The Water Crystal *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Two down, two to go. From Mt. Gulg run to Crescent Lake and heal if you even need it, then head east. This will take you to the other side of the map, then head north, to around the same area as the islands where Bahamut was to give you your class upgrade. On the continent to the west of that land in the Desert and you can easily find the Desert Caravan on the northern outskirts of it. Buy the Bottled Faerie from the man. When you do buy the Faerie, he will now sell you in-battle temporary stat boosters. Which would be useful if you didn't have Temper and Haste already...I guess you could buy a Speed Drink if you really wanted to, but it's hardly worth it. From the Caravan, head back east a little bit and you'll find the town of Onrac nestled in between the river and the sea. Before heading into Onrac, canoe into the river directly into the waterfall. Ooooh, a secret cave! In Waterfall Cavern, follow the west wall, then keep going south - there's no other items in the cave other than in the one room you're headed to so there isn't any need to explore. There's a pretty high encounter rate in this cave, so be wary of your HP and engage selectively. Grab the Gil, Ribbon, Staff, and Defender at the end of the tunnel, and talk to the funky little robot dude to get the Warp Cube, an item that is very important later. Emergency Exit out of there (I did, at least) and then double back to Gaia. When you enter the town, your faerie will leave it's bottle! Head to the body of water in the northeast of the town and speak with her. She'll give you the Oxyale. Finally, it's time to head in to Onrac. There isn't much in Onrac for a Ninja. Some cool spells that you can't use, an item shop full of things you should already have...sleep at the Inn and then head to the far east side of town. Talk to the person next to the submersible and then enter the most well-named dungeon in the game, the Sunken Shrine (you know it's awesome.). *NOTE: I usually take Kraken out first, then return to the Shrine for the Rosetta Stone, at least on solo challenges. I do this because it's easier to fight seven or eight battles, then Kraken, rather than twenty or thirty battles. Additionally, you can easily exit the Shrine after beating Kraken, so you have an easy chance to heal up at the Inn before grabbing the Rosetta Stone. It's perfectly acceptable to do it any way you choose, though. In this walkthrough I'll put the Rosetta Stone part first though, because I know most people prefer to do it that way. Head up the ladder. If you're hurting for Gil you can grab 11,900 Gil in the two chests in the first cave - to the east is 2,000 Gil, to the West (far west, not the middle) is 9,900 Gil. At the intersection head east and go up the stairs. You'll now be on 4F. Ignore the first room and continue west. You can head north here and follow the path to gain the Diamond Armor, but, unfortunately, Ninja cannot equip Diamond equipment (it's Knight only) - so I don't really know why you'd bother. The room in the middle of 4F contains only 20 Gil, so ignore it. The southwestern room contains a Light Axe, which also serves very little use for you. Heading south, the first room will contain a Mage's Staff, which casts Confuse when use. Pick it up. Grab the 12,350 Gil in the next room and then take the stairs up. You'll now be on 5F. There are fifteen little rooms in this cavern, eight of which contain items. Head north from where you are on the stairs right now, and grab the 10,760 Gil and Diamond Armlet out of the room. Exit the room and head north. Enter the second room in from the left on the top row, and get 2,750 Gil from the chest. The next room to the right has 10,010 Gil. Finally, the room to the right of that has the Diamond Helm, Diamond Gloves, and the Rosetta Stone, a storyline item. Below that is 5,000 Gil, and next to that 4,150 more. The south-most two chambers contain an Antidote and a Diamond Shield. This room is a little confusing to some; the trick is to remember that the passage to the left / right is one weird, interconnected construct that simply brings you to the other side of the room. Like Pac Man. Anyhow, once you get the Rosetta Stone get back to the first room (the lobby, if you will). This time head west and take the stairs up. In the next room, ignore all the little rooms and just head north and you'll see the stairs. The next two floors are painfully obvious (the stairs are right in front of you), then on the next floor enter the door and follow the path. Leave through the south wall and head down the stairs. In this final room you can pick up interesting items in every room, and I for once recommend grabbing most of them. There's 15k Gil in the room immediately south of you. Then a little over 20,000 Gil in the room just north of you. The room west of that one has a Light Axe, which can cast Diara in battle (which is kind of useful I guess). Finally, the chamber all the way to the west will house the Giant's Gloves (casts Thundara when used in battle) and 5,800 Gil. After collecting all your goodies, exit through the stairway in the north. Follow the path in this last room west, then north, then east again. Enter the door and then exit through the door on the east wall. Follow the clear cut path and enter a final door to battle Kraken. _______________ KRAKEN //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 1800 Agl: 42 Treasure: Kikuichimonji Atk: 50 Int: 32 5000 Gil Acc: 90 Eva: 84 4245 EXP Def: 60 MDf: 160 ==================================================== Kraken can be a pretty tough boss fight, at least compared to the pushover that Marilith was. With Temper and Haste, and assuming you still have the Ice Brand equipped (which is still the best offensive equipment you have up until this point), you should hit around 300-500 damage each hit. Unfortunately, Kraken will be typically hitting you for around 150+ damage each turn, or blinding you with Ink. Regardless, the same strategy applies; stat up then hope for the best. Hopefully you kept your Eva high so Kraken will miss some of his pretty strong attacks. If you bought any of the Tonics from the Desert Caravan salesman, use them. You could use the Giant'S Gloves to cast Thundara, but you'll honestly end up wasting turns where you could've been doing more damage with a stat-upped physical attack (Thundara doesn't come close to 500 damage). Status moves are worth a try but again, it's probably safer to just stat up, heal, then go all out offensively. Unfortunately you're getting to the point in the game where the boss battles will pretty much all play out the same. Finish Kraken and he'll drop the Kikuichimonji, a new offensive weapon for you to equip. Get out of the Sunken Shrine. Return if you skipped the Rosetta Stone. If not, heal up and leave Onrac. Get in your airship and fly to Melmond. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [WICR] The Wind Crystal *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Head to Melmond, and then inside Melmond go to the graveyard (North section of town). Talk to the guy who clearly doesn't look like he belongs there (with the blonde hair and jacket) and he'll teach you Lufenian. Now, head towards Lufenia. You will be parking the airship on the eastern-most continent near a lake just east of a massive desert. It's a long walk. Head south and you'll eventually find Lufenia. Despite the magic shops selling two of the strongest forms of magic in the game here, there isn't anything for a Ninja to do. Talk to the most south-east Lufenian in the village to receieve the Chime, a necessary item. Leave, and get back to the airship. Land it in the southern tip of grass near the huge desert. And...you guessed it. Go to the middle of the desert and enter Mirage Tower. Make sure you are stocked on recovery items. Enter Mirage Tower. Enter the door and loot the center of the room for a number of interesting items, and close to 30k Gil. None of them are much use; the Healing Helm would be GREAT if you had more than one active character...so continue onto the second floor and enter the middle room again. You can grab about 60,000 Gil in the chests alone, not to mention the obscene Gil rewards for the monsters in this room (Chimera, Blue Dragons, Guardians, etc.). Which reminds me - there are a few heavy hitters here, particularly the Dragons and the Chimera are fearsome. The items in the second middle room include the Sun Blade, which should be ignored, Thor's Hammer, and Dragon Mail - neither of the latter can be used by Ninjas. Head north and take the stairs up to 3F, then circle around, enter the middle room and fight a Blue Dragon. It should not really pose too much of a threat to you at this point (I was near Lv.50, and I didn't even grind at all...). Strong physical attacks will take it out - afterwards, warp to the Flying Fortress. Upon entrance to the Flying Fortress, you can do a few different things. Head east for 11,720 Gil, another Healing Helm, and a Protect Ring. Head west for 21,050 Gil, and a Potion. To the south is the Razer, a terrible weapon that you have no use for. To the north is the warp point you want to take. So grab what you want (if anything) and head north. On 2F you have a similar decision to make. The northwest corner holds a Mythril Helm and a Cottage. The north- east holds Diamond Gloves. In the center, the west has 13,880 Gil. The west has a Ribbon and a Diamond Shield. I recommend ONLY stopping in the south-west corner for the Adamantite. To the southeast are the Black and White Robes. If you finish grabbing swag, exit through the south stairwell. On 3F the trend continues. Due north is 14,450 Gil, a Protect Ring, and a Potion. To the west is the stairway you will take to go up to 4F, as well as a Gold Needle, 7,550 Gil, and Sasuke's Blade (useless; Kikuichimonji is one of the best weapons in the game for a Ninja). To the east is almost 25k Gil, a Gold Needle, and a Protect Cloak. When you're done head up to 4F, where you will head north two blocks, then west two blocks and go up the stairs. ***NOTE: SAVE AS YOU ARRIVE ON 5F. YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO ENCOUNTER THE DEATH MACHINE ENEMY ON 5F. IT IS RANDOM; YOU WILL NOT BEAT DEATH MACHINE ON A SOLO RUN. SAVE. SAVE NOW. DO IT. For those unaware, Death Machine is a 2,000 HP, 128 Atk, regenerating invincible monster that will end you (even in a normal, non-solo game). It is rather rare, thankfully, but it's nearly impossible to kill on a solo run. Hopefully you make it to Tiamat. _______________ TIAMAT //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 2,400 Agl: 36 Treasure: 6000 Gil Atk: 53 Int: 45 5496 EXP Acc: 80 Eva: 72 Def: 80 MDf: 200 ==================================================== Temper, Temper, Hi-Potion, Haste, Hi-Potion. Repeat as necessary. Seriously though, Tiamat is a nasty girl. She'll cast Thunderbolt, which will take off about 150 HP. Her physical attack is also pretty nasty, ripping into you for close to 300 HP on occasion. Lastly is Poison Gas, which hits for somewhere in between the two previous attacks (generally something like 230 damage). So, DEFINITELY keep an eye on your HP. Heal anytime you're under the 250 mark, because her damage can be unpredictable sometimes. Make sure you at least have 2x Temper buff on you before you even think about attacking Tiamat. She has solid defenses and attacking before you have 2x Temper stacked is going to let the battle run a little too long for comfort. You should be hitting for roughly 600 damage each attack after two Tempers, definitely more if you leveled up a lot. This puts the game on a four turn clock after your buffs are up. If you have any CUrtains left over from the ship game, use them, because Tiamat's magic is quite strong. Overall, I found Tiamat to be rather challenging - second only to Lich - but as usual, remember that eventually the luck and skill will line up and Tiamat will fall. After you win, leave. Now, enjoy your freedom! There are a couple of different dungeons you can do before you head off to the final battle. I also recommend leveling up quite a bit; the final boss is a HUGE jump in power from anything you've fought yet. So, read on. Or skip to [KAOS] for the final dungeon. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [XTRA] Loose Ends *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== i. The Adamantite from the Flying Fortress *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Bring the Adamantite you should've gotten from the Flying Fortress to Mt. Duergar. Talk to the dwarf in the smiting area and he'll turn your worthless Adamantite into Excalibur! A sword worthless to you because you aren't a Knight class! Still; it's a one of a kind weapon, so why not get it? ii. Extra Dungeons *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* As you (should) know, there are four additional dungeons added in for the GBA release of FF1! Unfortunately for you, a solo Ninja isn't going to be able to beat many of the super secret boss enemies. Actually, the real let down is that beating these tough bosses don't actually get you very useful items - at least beating the ones that you have a shot at. Attempt the Earthgift Shrine, or the Hellfire Chasm - at your own risk. Be forwarned though - you won't find anything particularly useful in either. iii. Preparing for Chaos *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Last note here; make sure you grind a considerable amount. I wouldn't consider being ready for Chaos before Lv.70 solo. And personally, why bother? You've already beat the game once (probably), so take your time and level up a little bit. Do some of the extra dungeons and REALLY challenge yourself. Don't rush into this. Notably, the second best sword the Ninja can use is found deep inside the Chaos Shrine - so if you wanted to get serious about the Soul of Chaos dungeons, perhaps consider going as far into the Chaos Shrine as you need to so you can get said weapon. The Chaos Shrine is a great training ground, so it's doubly valuable. iv. LAST CALL!!! *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* Make sure you have 99x Hi-Potion. If you hadn't already (you're crazy), make sure you have the Black Magic Haste and Temper. 99x Ether wouldn't hurt either though you won't need anywhere near that much. Definitely grab a couple of Protect Drinks from the Desert Caravan salesman, because Chaos solo is quite a challenge. As many X-Potions as you can find, as well - and if you don't have super high MP, also Hermes' Shoes. *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [KAOS] The Chaos Shrine *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Enter the Chaos Shrine. Investigate the black crystal in the center, where you fought Garland in the beginning. Things will change...when they're finished, exit the small room and head to the southeast corner. There are no items in the rest of the room so don't bother exploring. On 2F there will be stairs to your immediate east - take them up and you'll find yourself on 3F. Here, head south until you can't anymore. Then head east and then north through the door in the middle. Here you'll encounter a Death Eye - waste him and investigate the slab in the middle of the room - which will turn into a ladder. Grab the Dry Ether and Elixer from the left and right treasure chests, respectively. Once down the ladder, head south through the door. Then head west, and then north (it will seem like you're backtracking). Take the stairs down. Back on 1F follow the path to the west. Go down the stairs and find yourself on B1. Follow the path north, east, ignore the first turn south, take the second turn south, then prepare to fight Lich, again. Lich will be very much an indicator of whether or not you are ready to face the final boss. He's hugely more powerful than his former self, casting devastating magic like Flare. As usual, buff up, heal, and launch. I took him down in a couple of hits and didn't get below 652 HP. Good luck. Just a small reminder - while he has close to 3000 HP this time around, his other stats haven't really changed a whole lot. While he seems intimidating, casting Flare and all, he's a lot easier than he was the first time. After toppling Lich, head down the stairs. Now, head south. Then loop around north and go through the door. Head up a block, then east until you're in the second cavern area. Head south out the door and loop around, to where the stairs are. You'll now have to fight Marilith, who's even more of a joke this time around, despite having over 3000 HP. Same strategy as usual. If you leveled up enough, you can laugh at her Firaga, and all of her awful status spells (Death, Hold, etc - past Lv.90 it's nearly impossible to be statused). Roast Marilith, then head out. Loop around through the doors again, then head through the door to the west. Follow the pretty direct path and take the middle door out. Head south, save, then head east to fight the Kraken - who now packs a nice 3600 HP. Take him out using the same strategies as before, and he will quickly fall. Take the stairs and save again, prepare to fight Tiamat again right in this narrow hallway. But before that... Head south. Head south as far as you can, then head west. There's only really one place to end up - sitting in front of the Masamune, which is pretty darn close to the best weapon in the game. Grab it and head back to the stairs you came down. Then head east, south, east - fight Tiamat, who's nearly 6000 HP may give you a bit of a headache. She's casting the same spells as before, with the addition of Flare and an attack called Scourge. Same strategy as usual, be sure to heal off any statuses she inflicts, and keep your HP above 300 (which shouldn't be too difficult). The Masamune, Haste, and Temper will keep you hitting pretty hard, and if you have Strength TOnic or the like, that will assist as well. Finish her off, continue on, and head down the stairs. SAVE YOUR GAME! Run around the pentagram (c wut they did there?) and enter the door. It's time to fight Chaos. _______________ CHAOS //________________________________________________________// --------------- \\ HP: 20000 Agl: 50 Treasure: None Atk: 170 Int: 40 Acc: 200 Eva: 100 Def: 100 MDf: 200 ==================================================== This is going to be a challenging battle regardless. Lets get Chaos' abilities out of the way. Chaos has powerful elemental magic: Blaze, Cylcone, Firaga, Blizzara, to name a few. Tsunami inflicts non-elemental damage, and his physical attack is the worst of all of it - inflicting above 500 damage pretty routinely. Even worse, he casts Haste on himself and Slow on you - the old Astos combo that really hurts Thieves/Ninjas. Going into this you'll need a couple things; first, you will need to be over 500 HP. Some people say you can get by a little under, but I've never seen it or done it so I am NOT going to condone it. YOU WILL NEED Protect Tonics. That's all there is to it - though it was easy enough to depend on the Ninja's good Eva stat this whole time, Chaos' ridiculous Acc (almost perfect, but not quite) stat will ensure he hits almost every time with his physical attack. You will need Temper and Haste, as usual. You will also NEED X-Potions, many of them - so get on the 15 Slider Puzzle and win those X-Potions (you can also get them for beating Echidna in Earthgift Shrine). Unless you're doing a low-level challenge, do yourself a favor and be above Lv.70. Really, the only thing that changes with Chaos depending on your level is the amount of time. Regardless of level start out with Protects, then if you don't have maxed HP use Giant's Tonics. Heal routinely, keeping yourself above 450 HP or so. If Chaos casts Haste, keep your HP (or GET your HP) above 700 immediately, because Hasted Chaos can deal almost 700 damage. If you are also attempting a low-level run, you will need Hermes' Shoes to re-cast Haste (just in case Slowra takes to you), and I would also make sure you have Giant's Gloves (found in Sunken Shrine) to cast Saber on yourself as a replacement for Temper. The Curtain items from the 15 Slider Puzzle are useful, but it's almost better to forget it, use Protects and buff your attack. It's going to be an excruciatingly long fight. The worst part about this fight by far is the Curaja; Chaos will occasionally heal 9999 damage off himself...undoing a few rounds of hard work. This does little but prolong the fight, so keep yourself healed and Hasted and Sabered and/or Tempered. After enough Tempers you'll be able to start dealing some pretty serious damage that will start adding up, and Chaos won't be able to shrug and Curaja it off. Remember that Sabers and Tempers will keep stacking until they're maxed, so don't ever think it's a waste to cast one of them. Hang in there man! You will, eventually win. Chaos will fall, and you will be able to enjoy the end scenes. Congratulations! You've finished a solo-Thief run in FF1 - impressive! *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== [OVXR] Odds and Ends *==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*==*== Please! Give me feedback. modalrifle(at)live(dot)com Feel free to use, download, or share this file without express consent from me, the author. Please do not use it for profit or personal gain without my permission though. And please give credit where credit is due. I will not be adding Soul of Chaos strategies anytime in the near future - why? Because two perfectly good guides exist right here: http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/920240-final-fantasy-i-and-ii-dawn-of-souls/faqs /33854 (TFergusson) http://www.gamefaqs.com/gba/920240-final-fantasy-i-and-ii-dawn-of-souls/faqs /33809 (transience) Thank you to GameFAQs for hosting the best gaming site for the better part of the last twenty years. Thank you to Sloppy, Rhythm, Rake, Crazy, and AmyRose for their support. Thank you Square, Nintendo, etc.