~Shining Soul FAQ/Walkthrough~ Written by pf_yu Version 1.0 The latest version can be found at GameFAQs: http://www.gamefaqs.com ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ This is currently version 1.0 of pf_yu's Shining Soul walkthrough/FAQ for Gameboy Advance. Start of Version one was on the 28th of Dec, 2006. you gots something to say? contacto me. If there are errors, tell me, if there are spelling mistakesoszz, there were made on purposez. anywho, contact me ya? pf_yu (at) hotmail (dot) com ...::: u p d a t e s :::... [Version 1.0 -31st dec 2006-completed] 'tis my first faq on the internet. look at it. im so proud. Anyways, the first version of this walkthrough is complete-o. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: c o n t e n t s :::... 01----Introduction 02----Story 03----The Basics Characters controls Level up! Equipment 04----Tactics/strats 05----Walkthrough 06----Boss guide 07----Misc. 08----FAQ 09----Thanks 10----Conclusion and legal stuff ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [01] i n t r o d u c t i o n ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ To be honest, i didnt write this FAQ because of its astronomically simple gameplay, nor the chirpy music, nor the "happy" graphics. I wrote this because i wanted to contribute something back to our beloved gaming community after years of taking and not giving. And here it is, alas, after many hours of thumb numbing typing, i've successfully produced a complete walkthrough for the GBA game, Shining Soul. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [02] s t o r y '~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ You see a strange red-head gal with elvishly long ears sitting on the floor, reading a gigantus book. So far so good. She then reads from the book; "The Dark Dragon scorched the world with its destructive fire." "The Shining Warriors were sent to defeat the Dark Dragon." She asks herself; "Wow! What's going to happen? hmm..." She is then interrupted by a visitor looking for her grandpa. The girl responds ,telling him that he ain't home. She then suggests that the stranger reads that massive book on the ground while he waits. What tremendous hospitality. Anyway, she says the book tells the story of the land of Rune. With no other option, the visitor reads the ridiculously big book... The book tells a tale of a Dark Dragon that formed a army of darkness in order to destroy the world of Rune long ago. It looks like darkness is consuming the land but whats this? Four heroes emerge from the light with the fate of the world on their shoulders. You are one of those heroes. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [03] b a s i c s ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~' ...::: characters :::... When you make your first charcter you will be given the choice to name him, colour him, and choose a class type for him. kewl. There are a total of four different class types, each quite different from the others. Here, ima list the pros and cons of each. ~ The Warrior ~ What rpg game doesnt have some sort of a warrior? anyways, all characters that you choose start at level one. Here are his base stats: Lv.1 Att.20 Str.15 Def.3 Vit.15 Dex.15 Int.0 Big, strong, fast and dumb. Perfect. While the warrior can do tremendous damage at higher levels, he is strictly a melee fighter. He has no range attacks what- so-ever. This makes some of the boss battles some-what difficult. He also has a wide range of weapons and armor at his disposal ~ The Wizard ~ Throws ice and fire around like.. rocks and um.. other projectiles.. Lv.1 Att.0 Str.5 Def.3 Vit.10 Dex.10 Int.20 A weakass bookworm describes almost any wizard in Rpg's these days. But what he lacks in physical strength, he makes up for in powerful fireballs and chunks of ice. All of his spells are ranged which is nice. He's limited to scrolls only, that means no axes, no swords, no nothing. ~ The Archer ~ How come archers always have pointy ears? Lv.1 Att.17 Str.13 Def.3 Vit.12 Dex.20 Int.0 Able to shoot arrows and throw spears. My my, he can even heal himself slowly as well as build up a resistance toward fire and ice. So whats the downside? The Archer is restricted to using the bow and the Spear. ~ The Dragonute ~ On come on! What rpg game doesnt have a green turtle-dragon wearing armor and make up? Lv.1 Att.33 Str.16 Def.3 Vit.17 Dex.12 Int.0 Able to dish out loads of pain, the Dragonute can also take a thrashing and still come up on top. If you want to use him, i suggest you lean a bit more to the offensive side first, even though he is sort of a defensive character. It'll pay off when you see the ridiculous damage he'll deal. ...::: controls :::... Start Button - Enter game menu Select - Summon the spirit of a monster A Button - Attack/Confirm/open chest/Activate portal B Button - Use chosen item/Cancel selection L Button - Equip different Weapons/Spells R Button - Equip different Item/buy menu Directional buttons - Moves you around A button lets you confirm your options and lets you swing your weapon, cast a spell or shoot a arrow. It also lets you climb up stairs, open chests and activate portals. B button cancels your selected option and lets you use the current item you are holding. Pushing the L button will bring up a little menu on the upper left hand side. The three slots in the menu can hold up to three different weapons/spells. Pushing the L button will let you cycle through those three weapons so you can change your equiped weapon/spell in the thick of battle. Handy. The R button does the same thing, except its on the right hand side and this lil menu is for items. Cycle through them to equip the one you want to use and press B to use it. Pressing it in a shop will bring you to the "buy" screen. Select lets you summon a spirit. Look in Misc. for more details. Pressing the Start button will lead you to a menu selection screen where you can access four different menus. They are: The Item Menu - Where you can use your items, equip your character, check inventory and your status, and finally, you can change what to put in the three slots of your weapons/spell and items corner menus. The Status Menu - This is where you can check your characters status, level, Exp and so on. If you happened to level up, you can also distribute points to upgrade your character. Each time you level up, you are rewarded with 4 status points, which you can use to improve your Strength,Vitality,Intelligence and Dexterity. You are also generously given a Skill point. More on these later. Options Menu - This menu allows you to change various game settings. 'nuf said. End - This lets you save and quit the game. ...::: level up! :::... Walk around a bit out of town and you'll see many demonic creatures and fiendish beasts and what-not. Killing them will yield you exp, almost like all them other rpgs. Get enough Exp and gain a level, you know the drill. Each level you gain will give you 4 status points and 1 skill point. These raises your status and skill level. (duh.) Pressing start and choosing the 'Status' menu will bring up your charcter's current status. When you level up, you'll see that you've been given four status points. These can go into: Str: Each point raises your atk by 1. Essential for warriors and dragonutes. Vit: Each point raises your HP by 2. Essential by all. Int: Affects your SP and magic damage. Only for Wizards. Dex: Affects your hit rate and evasion rate. Good to have. You allocate points with the directional buttons and confirm with A. The Skill Menu is to the right. There are eight skills for each character. One point in a lv.0 skill will increase it to lv.1 Try it and you'll now see two blue faces instead of one. That means you now need a total of 2 skill points to raise that lv.1 skill to lv.2. To max out a skill you'll need a total of 15 skill points. What the hell am i talking about? ah, you'll know when you've seen it. I'll even be kind enough to list the skills of every charcter. ...::: Warrior Sword - Sword power up, charge attack OK. A charge attack is a extra powerful or extra fast attack but you'll have to hold down the A button to charge it. The charge up time becomes longer as you put more points into it but the damage done also becomes better. Axe - Axe power up, charge attack OK Spear - Spear power up, charge attack OK Def/Build-up - Improves defense, permanently. Efficacy (?) - Increases recovery power of items. Mental Power - Raises immunity against attacks. Ice Res - Improves defense against cold. It still slows you down though, just deals less damage. Lightning Res - Improves defense against thunder. You should definately max out either Sword, Axe or spear. The charge up attacks become invaluable later on. The rest is all sort of defense skills. You can pick whichever you want though i think Mental Power tops the rest. ...::: Wizard Blaze - Spell that casts balls of fire. Powering this up will increase the the damage done and will let you charge it up. A fully charged up lv five spell is like a containing a nuclear bomb inside a soup tin can. Freeze - Spell that casts balls of ice. While not as powerful as blaze, Freeze can freeze an opponent dead in it's tracks. big surprise no? Spark - Spell that casts thunderbolts. Powerful. Blast - Spell that casts tornadoes. This is an interesting spell. Instead of stopping once it hits an enemy, it'll tear through a bunch of 'em. Great crowd controller. Inferno - Spell that reduces area to ashes. Very damaging. Res - Improves resistance against magic. This is a passive skill. Heal - Spell that recovers HP. Slow - Spell that slows down enemies. Great against one on one battles. Keep in mind that you need the actual scroll of a spell to cast something. You can equip scrolls like weapons. i suggest at least one point in Heal as it becomes a very useful spell later on and also a great money saver. Max out a spell you like, any spell. ...::: Archer Bow - Bow power up, charge attack OK. The more you invest into this skill, the more arrows you'll be able to shoot at once, when you charge up of course. Spear - Spear power up, charge attack OK. This isn't a melee weapon, the archer throws the spear. Range - Increases throwing range. It says throwing range but it works for the bow too. Trust me. Critical - Increases the chance of a critical hit. A critical hit will do a lot more damage than usual. Healing - HP recovers gradually. Looks good on paper but it takes quite a while for any HP to come back. Maybe one level. Anti-flying - More damage to flying enemies. Not too many flying enemies around to make this skill useful. Ice Res - Improves defense against cold. It still slows you down though, just deals less damage. Fire Res - Improves defense against fire. Max either Spear or Bow. Then go for Range or critical. Leave everything else 'till after you max those three skills. ...::: Dragonute Axe - Axe power up, charge attack OK. Flail - Flail power up, charge attack OK. The flail has a longer range than the axe. Break armor - Lowers enemies' defense Breath - Counterattacks with breath. Only a slight chance though. Def build up - Improves defense. Undead - Deals more damage to undead enemies. Fire Res - Improves defense against fire. Lightning Res - Improves defense against thunder. Max out on a weapon then go with break armor. Anything else is up to you. ...::: Equipment :::... Items, Weapons are no good to you just sitting in your inventory. Equip them into your L slots and R slots and use them with A and B. Note that some characters cannot use certain weapons and armor while others can. For example, a Wizard cannot equip a set of heavy chain mail nor a flail though a Dragonute can but cannot use scrolls. If a piece of equipment is blue and outlined in red, it means your character cannot use it and you should sell it. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~' [04] t a c t i c s ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ During mu time playing Shining soul, iv'e found some strategies that will work for all enemies. Here, i'll even share them with you. ~ Hit and Run. When there's a especially tough moster that just seems to deal more damage to you than you to him, hitting and running becomes your next best friend. Charge up a attack, quickly run past, unleash, run again. Rinse and repeat until the monsters dead. ~ Baiting. If there is a tough mob of enemies, lure one of the faster monsters toward you by using your self as bait. Kill them one by one. Practice will make you a perfect master of baiters. (you knew that was coming) ~ Retreat. Don't evah over estimate yourself. Restreating for the moment may seem cowardly but you'll thank me when you're still breathing. ~ Angel Wings. They're the bees knees baby. If you're over burdened, need healing, anything, just pop one and they'll take you all the way back to Prontis, pronto. ~ In some places, especially the Dark tower and Deol Waterway, enemies can sometimes get stuck in certain places such as in between towers or egdes. If you are a Archer or Wizard, go wild. If not, meh. ~ Concentrate on killing one monster at a time. One monster gone will mean one less fireball or one less skeleton clawing at you. ~ Take a break from all the carnage. This game can get fairly tedious at some levels. This is dangerous. You'll be bored and not concentrate on whatever it is you're doing. Go have a snack, play some ball. Come back when you've sharpened up. ~ The most important advice of all; Have fun! (You knew that was coming,too.) ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [05] w a l k t h r o u g h ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ Ah, the moment you've been waiting for. As fun as Shining Soul is, i could only endure it twice at the most. Ive only played through it with the Archer and the Dragonute, though i suppose i have enough experience to write down what ive experienced. At the time of writing, i played as an Archer. Here goes. ...::: Prontis Village We start our epic journey in a small village called Prontis, a small peaceful place with robots and ninjas. A Bald, old man with a eyepatch, Noah, declares you to be the hero that will save them all. The red dude next to him will tell you about the Dark Dragon and his five generals. Hey, theres Chaos and Adam, the two friendly robots created to seal away the Dark Dragon. Okay. Walk around like all rpgs and talk to the townspeople. You will learn.. nothing much. However, there are four shops in Prontis and a bank. ~ The Valuer's: She will identify items for you, for a price of course. ~ The Weapon shop: Lets you buy and sell weapons. You can also equip yourself here. ~ The armor shop: You can wear armor on your head and body, and you can have a accesory, too. Buy and sell in the armor shop. ~ The item Shop: Buy and Sell a bunch of useful items. ~ The Bank: Everytime you die, you lose all of your money. Not half. All of it. Storing money in the bank before going out to play suddenly seems like a good idea. They can also keep some of your items if you're over-burdened. Apart from the shops, you can also visit the giant bird in the south-east. Bring him things and he'll make other things. Anytime you need healing, Noah will do it free of charge. He also tells you how much exp you need to level up, too. There's also Boken, some dude that wants to explore the world but is unable to do so woth the war and the bloodshed. hm.. The two robots provide you with important information about game items, bosses and other game related crap. The sign near the bird man does the same. So anyways, exit out of Prontis (South west) and go to.. ...::: Area 1:Beast Mountain ~I suggest you put a herb into your R menu, just in case you die. And if you do die, You'll lose your money and be back at Prontis. Go down a bit and you'll see a flying angel thing. Talk to it and it'll take you back to the area where you died.~ Beast Mountain,being the first area in the game, is also naturally the easiest. You can pick up the items dropped by enemies with A. 'tis the same with opening chests and moving to a new area. Just defeat all the enemies here to gain some cheap exp and move to the second area. ...::: Area 2:Beast Mountain Still a walk in the park. Theres a new enemy now, though nothing serious. You should have gained 1 level by now. Distribute your points wisely. I suggest the ice spell to be leveled further because it does alright damage but more importantly, it has a chance to freeze a enemy in it's tracks. As for the other characters, i suggest you get some sort of charge up attack for them. In any case, make your way to.. ...::: Area 3:Beast Mountain Wow, plenty more enemies here and tougher too. No big problem, dispose of them and make your way to the portal which will lead you to.. ...::: Beast Mountain ~ Boss: Beast King ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 1/10 Recommended level: bah, anything is fine against this pushover. Exp gained: 120 Oh my. A giant walking lion monster. With four snake tails. Alright, dont panic. Still awalk in the park. You'll see that your health has been re-charged to its full state prior to the battle. The monster has three attacks and the strategy on defeating him will vary accordingly to what charcter you've got. Beast King's first attack rather a annoying one for the melee warriors. He will sort of "power up" and waves of energy will be released from his feet. If the waves hit you, not only will it do considerable damage, it will also disrupt any attack being charged up. If you're using ranged however, attack all you can in this brief opportunity. His second attack is curling up into a ball and rolling around across the screen. If he hits you, he takes off a lil bit of health. The pattern that he rolls in is the same. He walks out to the center of the screen and always rolls Down first. Then to the northest corner, then the southwest, then up and then to the southeast. Finally, he returns to the middle again. When he is rolling, the only time to safely attack him is when he stops for a second as he arrives at his destination. His final attack is probably his most useless. Damage him enough and he'll walk up to the top of the screen and shoot heat-seeking white stuff at you. They follow you around but they're slow. Avoid them and kill the Beast King. Simple as pie. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ After you defeat him, for some strange reason, The Beast king Explodes. Open the chest to get your prize and jump into the portal right back into Prontis. ...::: Prontis Village First things first. Walk up a bit to see a ninja. Talk to him to find out he's Kagemaru from a faraway country in the east. He gives you a lousy herb and disappears. Sell all unnecessary items. Identify all items. If you can, get some new weapons, armor, or spells. Everyone will have something new to say so talk to them if you want. After you've done whatever you've done in Prontis, set out to Area 2: ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death Labyrinth of Death.. no kidding. Its a bit harder than Beast Mountain with swarms of enemies hacking at you. They've got some new baddies to play with, including enemy archers and flying bats. Still nothing impossible, just slaughter everone, collect the moolah and move on. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 2 Play it safe. Increase your odds of survival by luring enemies away from their archers and killing them one by one. Careful of traps, you can see little holes in the ground where spikes will shoot up if you step on them. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 3 Now they have wizards. grrr. Play it safe, retreat if you need to. Find the stairs and go to.. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 4 Almost like a bonus level. Kill all of the slimes to continue. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 5 Straightforward. Nothing too new. You should be about level 6 right now. Use a Angel Wing to go back to town if you're over burdened. If not, make your way to the next stage. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 6 The Mummies can be a problem if not taken out fast. Other than that its smooth sailing. ...::: Area 2:Labyrinth of Death 7 Kill all the enemies here to activate a portal. You know what that means.. ...::: Labyrinth of Death ~ Boss: Colossus ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 3/10 Recommended level: 6-8 Exp gained: 240 Giant Robot with floating hands. Beast King is nothing compared to this giant.. colossus. You're standing on a plateform and can only move around in the area given. Colossus will be in front of you, attacking non-stop. This boss has two stages. Alrighty, again this boss has three attacks. The first and most annoying is its eye lasers. He will shoot 1 laser from his left and right eye. The laser itself is hard to avoid due to its speed and randomness. His second attack is useless. He pulls out a hand from the darkness and sweeps the floor with it. Looks like hes stroking something. Anyway, even though it covers half the plateform and does decent damage, it'll never hit you as long as you keep moving. Try your best to avoid the lasers and the hands, attack his head whenever you can. Use Herbs if need be. Nothing too hard. ~ During the first stage, i've found a fairly effective trick to avoid all attacks from Collosus. I discovered that if you move to the most western corner of the plateform, his two attacks will never even touch you. This give you the opportunity to attack between his attacks.It's cheap, i know, and you can beat him easily without using it but all the same, ima include it. ~ Damage him enough and his eye'll fall out. It aint over yet because now, the eye will roll around, crushing everything in his path. A boss that rolls around after you damage it a bit. We havnt had one of those for fifteen minutes now. Alright, use the same strategy as you did with Beast King, attack when he stops rolling or if youre a archer/wizard, keep your distance and keep shooting/ cast spells. Bam, the boss is no more. Take the chest, then the portal back to Prontis village pronto. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Pronitis Village The Ninja, whats-his-name, will be running and and disappearing/appearing all over the place. Catch him to "earn" his respect and he gives you a healing drop. cool. Identify. sell. Buy. You'll probably need an Angel wing or three so you can return back to town when you need to heal/sell items. Buy the most expensive weapon/armor you can afford if you wish to. And off we go to the next area. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon As you've probably noticed already, sometimes on a level there is a monster that is of a different colour than the rest. These monsters are harder to kill with more hp and often evades your attacks. On the plus side, they give more exp than usual and often drops a item. cool. These enemies arent too hard to dispatch. Just waltz through the first area. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 2 Argh. Monsters that can poison and freeze you. Keep your distance for archers and wizards, melee fighters should try to kill them with a charged attack before they even have a chance to hit you if able. Bring herbs and maybe a couple of antidotes. Hope you brought Angel Wings along. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 3 These Dungeons get pretty repetitive after a while. Dont forget to distrubute your points after youve leveled up. By now you should be around lv. 9 or 10. If you've been dishing out all your skill points into only one skill, consider something else. Variety is the name of the game. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 4 Zomg Falling rocks! Pshh, avoid them by cowering in the nooks along the way and move to area 6. Use a Angel Wing to go back to Prontis if you need to heal/sell/buy or whatever. Theres a "mini boss" at the end waiting for you, don't sweat, 'tis nothing serious. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 5 Man oh man. That golem guarding the exit on stage 4 is now a common enemy here! Play it safe, they deal a lot of damage and have a lot of health but their speed will be their downfall. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 6 New enemy: Rock lobster fish thing. No, seriously. Their fast but going toe-to -toe with them should have them begging for mercy. But we aint gonna be merciful, right? ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 7 This is nearly the same as the previous ones, just watch your back. The trick is to not let the monsters swarm you. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 8 The experience given by the Golem monsters are quite high, nearly double the exp some of the lesser creatures give you. Though they are also twice as hard. Dont forget to equip items (Herbs/Healing drops,Angel Wings should be on the list) to avoid stupid, unnecessary deaths. I encountered a Monument of Mithril on this stage. After Examining it, it gave me a mithril. The Bird man said he'd make something nice with three ores didnt he? hm.. ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 9 New enemy time. You'll find a enemy similar to the golems, big, strong but slow. The giant walking lizard monsters with swords. Nothing exciting other than that ...::: Area 3:Egual Dungeon 10 Think of this as a prep stage. Heal, equip, and go into the portal. Uh-huh, its boss time. ...::: Egual Dungeon ~ Boss: Bulzone ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 5/10 Recommended level: 11 and beyond Exp gained: 360 Hey Dragonute, that looks like your mother! Sorry, it late, me lazy. Annnyyyway. Bulzone is a giant green ugly demon, also one of the five generals of The Dark Dragon. But he doesnt plan to stay loyal to DD however, he wants to raise above everyone and conquer all. How come bosses always reveal their plans before a battle? Oh well, here goes. Jeez, hes a lot harder than anything we've come up against so far. Fear not dear reader, we shall triumph for we are the light. His first attack doesnt seem so bad, He just teleports either to the north or south and shoots out a barrage of fireballs at you. I recommend you stay in the opposite side and avoid them cuz theres no way you're getting close to him with them fireballs burning you alive. His second attack, if you get hit by it, will cut off half if not more of your health. He teleports to either the west or east side and charges up. Then he releases a green beam that will whip you back to Prontis. Dont worry, the beam takes a long time to charge and you can see what direction hes aiming at making this attack powerful, but useless. His third attack is just plain annoying. He teleports away from you and shoots out heat-seeking death white stuff (seems like every boss takes a little from beast king huh?) The damage will stack up and it will hurt. Dont try to attack him when hes doing this, you'll just end up shooting a laser into a mirror which will reflect back into your eyes and cause damage to them. yeah. During these attacks, hit and run as best as you can, try and avoid his white stuff and his fireballs. When hes charging up the giant laser, thrash him with a charged attack or two. Just be a lil patient and he'll go back to whichever hole he crawled out of. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Prontis Village You've got the hang of this by now haven't you? Buy, sell, identify, leave. No Ninja this time 'round, let's get out of here. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest Bunch of new baddies to chew up here. Need i say more? No seriously, do you need more help? If so send me a mail. One new interesting things here are the mushrooms. Press Select to find a description and the game will kindly tell you all about the 'shrooms; "???". Only one way to find out what they do, go ahead and chew on one. They could heal you, they could poison you. Give them magic Mushrooms a try. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 2 Beware of the archers lurking in the background, they can pose a serious threat to you. Keep chewing them mushies. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 3 With whatever charcter you're playing with, i hope you have at least one level three charge up skill. Four's even better. A fully charged up attack can dispose of most enemies here. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 4 Slug it through man, slug it through. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 5 The forest is quite big in some stages so finding the portal to the next level may prove to be difficult. In this case, i suggest after the portal has been activated, search the area in sectors to prevent confusion. Understand? no? ah well. Just look for the damn portal. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 6 Lv. 14 or so? you should have no problem clearing out everyone. Just maul through the horde of funny looking monsters.. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 7 During this level, if you were as unlucky as i was, you'll encounter a red version of one of those axe goblin things. I swear, he took me longer to kill than the last three bosses. He deals massive damage, very evasive, and has a shik load of hp to slash away. And he doesnt even give out decent exp. *mumble *mumble ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 8 By this stage, you'll most likely have to go back to town to sell a few things and get yourselfed re-supplied. While you're there, make sure you've got a Angel Wing in your inventory. If not go buy one in Prontis, Pronto. never gets old. ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 9 Dont forget to lure the enemy out first. 1 on 1 is far better than 5 on 1. Remember to distrubute those stat/skill points! ...::: Area 4:Otherworldly Forest 10 Prepare for a boss battle. Do your thang, go back, heal, buy, you know what im talking about then come back and get ready for insanity. ...::: Otherworldly forest ~ Boss: Mishaela ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 7/10 Recommended level: 18 and beyond Exp gained: 480 Purple hair girl. or five. Second general of the Dark Dragon. What the? Which ones the real Mishaela? Why am i getting whipped so easily? What the hell kinda name is "Michaela"? My gawd, this gal ain't no pushover. She'll throw ice, she'll spit lightning, she'll take you down before you can pronounce Michaela. Don't worry, we'll pull through this. Alright, this fiesty purple head has only two attacks. She'll cast ice, which will freeze you and slow you down, and lightning, which is very hard to dodge and will deal impressive damage to you. But times that by five (she splits into five) and we've just stumbled into a can of whipass, aimed at our direction. So which ones the real one? sadly, they are all identical and i cant tell you. The only way to know is to find out yourself. Dodge all of their attacks (i know its easier said than done but never the less, try your best.) and charge in as fast as you can at one of them. Use short bursts, dont bother charging up your attack, you wont have time. If you hit one, she should retreat for a bit and then start shooting you again. Keep attacking that one Michaela until she's backed into the edge. Now she'll have nowhere to run but she'll be sort of stuck there. She wont attack nor run, but sort of twitches around. Keep attacking that Michaela until either she dies or she disappears. If she does disappear, then it's not the real one. If you're getting pummeled to death, lure some of them away from the pack towards you, three will follow, two of them will stay behind. Bring plenty of healing drops/waters. You'll need them. Slug it out man, just slug it out. After she is defeated, she says she wishes to see "Master Darksol" one last time. hmm.. In any case, kudos, grab the chest and return to.. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Prontis Village After that battle its nice to be back at the quiet village of Prontis. Talk to Noah to get yourself healed and everyone else for valuable information. Then with the proper equipment and items (Angel Wings!) we set off to.. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple After the last boss battle, these levels seem like tea parties. Slash, hash, burn, shoot or maul through these enemies. They ain't got nothing to even scratch you. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 2 Areas here are now divided into multiple parts. The lower floors and the upper floors. You must first defeat all monsters on the bottom floor, then go up via the portal, slaughter the upper floor beasties and take the stairs up. Not the least bit hard, just time consuming. Ah well, at least you get exp. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 3 Now theres four floors to clear before the end. Goodie. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 4 The Purple skeletons are a major threat as they can cast lightning (You how fun lightning was with Michaela don't you?) on you from a distance. If you have any kind of range attack, kill them before they have a chance. If you're melee and cant get to them, just make a run for it for the moment, take a second to heal then go back and unleash your fury. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 5 Theres a bunch of scythe-wielding dudes with red eyes. They move fast so draw them away from the main force of skeletons for a easy kill. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 6 Corridor of statues is probably the best way to describe this level. Marvel at the different stone wonders and kill those rock axemen while you're at it. Next! ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 7 argh.. everything just became a lil more difficult. Blue mummies and Red Golems take a more time to kill and deals out more damage. But they're nothing compared to the new pants-less demons (looks like Bulzone, the 2nd boss) who move faster, have higher hit points, higher melee attack damage and to top it off, they can cast spit fireballs at you. Fight them one on one cuz a pack of them may mean a trip back to Prontis. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 8 Patience is key. Pick them off one at a time. Be careful of those pesky demons. What else can i say? ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 9 Okay, new enemies here. Upgraded versions of those wizards from before. They are low on hp and defense but their flaming balls of.. um.. flames will really start to hurt. Kill them quickly or take a trip to you know where. ...::: Area 5:Glaybull Temple 10 Ah, the final stage of this wretched place. Go back to town, buy healing stuff and prepare for a boss battle. ...::: Glaybull Temple ~ Boss: Iom ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 4/10 Recommended level: 18 and above Exp gained: 600 Four winged demon of purple rings. Third Genral of The Dark Dragon. Nowhere near as hard as Michaela. First things first, Iom cannot move during this battle which gives you a advantage. However, he has two of those underground rock lobster things that will inflict heavy damage and also freeze you, slowing you down and making you vulnerable to all other attacks. These Rock Lobster thingies called "antennae" are easy to kill with low hp but everytime you kill them, they come back after about 10 seconds or so. During time, pound on the boss as hard as you can. for Wizards and Archers, stand just outside of his range of attack and pummel him. Where's he going to run? As for the actual Iom, he has three attacks, none of them outstandingly powerful. Iom beam is a attack made from purple rings which goes straight down the middle of the plateform. easy to dodge and deals lousy damage. He'll charge up a bit before releasing it thus lowering the difficulty of avoiding it even more. He also shoots out what looks like smiling ghosts at you. Three of them to be proper, one to the west, one south west and the last directly south, all at the same time. It deals minimum damage but they're fast and a little harder to avoid if you have two antennaes on your six. On the other hand, they do minimum damage. The last attack and also the one that'll upset the melee player the most is the shock wave. Just like Beast King, he releases a power wave at his er.. waist.. which will damage you. He tenses his arms just as hes about to do this so melee charcters should attack between his attacks. General startegy for all charcters is: First defeat the two lobsters, i mean antennae, then run up to him and start thrashing Iom until the two meddling antennaes come back. Kill them, then repeat the process. Do this about 4 times or so and Dark Dragons Third general will be produced into mince. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Prontis Village Stock up on new weapons, healing items and of course Angel Wings. I wonder if they sell chicken wings too. Anyway, dance out of here and travel to.. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway You'll see some familiar faces here, namely the lil critters from the Otherworldly Forest. This first level should be like a hot knife through sour cream. Or a cold knife. sour cream is pretty soft so i dunno. In any case, finish this and move on. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 2 Argh. Watch out for the purple mist things, they're fireballs are even hotter than those pantsless demons's flames. Take them out or they'll take you down. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 3 Now the are demon dogs on the loose. These combined with the purple skeletons whom have very high defenses can prove to be a lethal team if not dealt with immediately. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 4 Same as level 3, just be sure to kill those purple mists quickly. Distribute points as neccesory. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 5 Nothing new at all. Be sure to heal because those purple mists and their fireballs wont give you a break to beef up. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 6 New enemy here, gray golems. Just slaughter them like you did with the purple skeletons. Try to pick them off one by one. They can freeze you and if they do, you're bound to lose some hp. Keep it moving. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 7 Be sure to kill those wizards as soon as you see them. Their lightning magic could be devastating. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 8 When fighting those scythe-wielding skeletons, don't use charge attacks because they usually come in large numbers and they are almost as fast as you are. Instead, try the hit and run strategy. If you can't control the urge to charge up that weapon, then only charge it up to maybe 2 or 3. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 9 Here you'll meet a mini boss. A giant red dragon thats far bigger than some of the bosses and much tougher too. They can spit fireballs that dish out quite a lot of pain but they're easy to dodge. For Archers and Wizards, y'all should just keep your distance so that he cant attack you with his second attack, a mini shockwave that deals considerable damage, and keep shooting/casting while avoiding his fireballs and he'll be dead in no time. For melees, it's even easier. Charge up to the max with your weapon while dodging his fireballs and unleash a combo while he's preparing for his next attack. Just before he does his shockwave he lifts up his arms so you should keep clear either just before or straight after he does that. ...::: Area 6:Deol Waterway 10 You'll meet another one of those red dragons as well as all the enemies you've battled already in this evil Waterway. Heal and buy some antidotes cuz the next boss is a poison using coward. ...::: Deol Waterway ~ Boss: Zeon ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 4/10 Recommended level: 20 and above Exp gained: 720 Freaking coward, one of the generals of the Dark Dragon. Alright, there are nine holes in the floor. Zeon can pop out of any one of holes and unleash one of his attacks. His first attack ain't too bad. He'll stick his head out and release four poison clouds that do minor damage and poison you. Its easy to dodge so evade and smack with a charged up attack. Zeon can also fire one big cloud at one direction. Now this is harder to evade since the cloud is bigger and much faster. If you get hit by this, use an antidote and some healing drops/waters if needed. Don't attack him while hes using this. He sometimes attacks you physically, too, dealing minor damages. Nothing to worry about. What makes this fight a lil hard is Zeon's speed. He won't leave you a chance to attack him, he plays hit and run. He pops up, does his thang and he's gone again, hiding in one of those holes. Since theres no way to damage him when hes down there and no way to find out which hole he's going to come out of, you're just going to have to be patient. Charge up a attack to maximum and wait you get a good opportunity. Sometimes Zeon breaks off from the plateform and takes a swim in the surrounding river. For Archers and Wizards, charge up a attack and go wild. you'll do significant damage to him. For melee users, stick play it defensive all the way through. This battle is more "long" than "hard" and if you play it right, you'll send him back to one of those holes in no time. After you're done, take the treasure and then go home to Prontis ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Prontis Village Stock up on healing items if you haven't already and leave. Nothings here in this boring village. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower Hard-hitting and fast is the best way to describe the monsters encountered here. If you see enemy archers and/or wizards, kill them first. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 2 The purple birds can poison you so i hope you have some antidotes left over from the previous boss battle. The purple demons are fast, physically strong and on top of that has a fireball attack that does huge damage to you. Beware. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 3 New enemies here, the purple floating robots and the pink dogs of hell. The robots arent much of a threat but the dogs can spit fire and are fast. Deal with them first. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 4 Yet another new enemy to play with: The yello mists. Take these out as soon as you see them if they are alone. If they're in a mob of different critters, draw the others away from the yellow mists first. Divide and conquer. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 5 Im beginning to think Evil Sol is some sort of mechanic or electrician. Look at all the robots here. The four legged robots are slow but can cast thunder on you. Treat them like yellow mists. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 6 There are now green monster dudes with metal boxing gloves. They're so weak it's probably not even worth mentioning. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 7 Same as before. Don't forget to distribute those hard earned stat/skill points! ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 8 Some birds, some of those yellow mists. You know the drill. A lot of creatures here are using lightning attacks so some lightning protective armour is a good idea. ...::: Area 7:Dark Tower 9 Only this stage stands between you and the Infamous Dark Sol. Stock up on healing supplies. There's a purple dragon guarding the exit. He shouldn't be too hard to beat but watch out for his ice attacks. Evade and attack. ...::: Dark Tower ~ Boss: Darksol ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 2/10 Recommended level: 22 and above Exp gained: 840 Darksol, The last General of Dark Dragon. What's with the darkness? Meh. The much talked about Darksol turns out to be quite a pushover. Really? Really. Really really? yes, really really. Darksol has four attacks. He floats around on top of his tower only landing to cast a spell at you. You can't attack him while he's flying so just wait. Once he lands, one of his floating swords will hover in front of him. He will cast the spell that matchs the colour of his sword. If it's.. Purple: He will cast ice. Cold, freezing ice. Once it hits you, you'll be slowed down and vulnerable to his other attacks. The actual attack doesnt do too much damage, 'tis just there to hinder youre movements. Quite easy to avoid. Red: He will cast a massive fireball at you. Takes off a bit of health, nothing special. Just a bit bigger and faster, still simple to dodge. Yellow: Oh boy. Lightning. Deals heavy damage and near immpossible to evade. As soon as you see that yellow sword, run to one of the corner and maybe, just maybe you'll evade it. This will only work if he isnt at the same corner as you. If he is, i hope you brought healing supplies. Green: Not really an attack. Darksol, unlike any other boss you've fought so far, has the ability to heal himself. ugh. Pound on him when he's doing this. Strategy? Fight him like you fought Michaela, evade his attacks and pound on him as soon as he lands. Doesn't matter which character you use, just charge up while dodging and unleash when you have the chance. He'll be dead in no time flat. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Prontis Village Stock up on healing crap. Still no ninja. Buy/sell if needed. Eh, wheres the robots? meh, Go. Just go. ...::: Area 8:Dark Castle Dark Dragon really needs to recruit some better monsters to guard his castle. Race you to the exit. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 2 I wonder why Dark Draggie made his castle so frigging big. Nothing new. Fowards. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 3 Pink two-headed dogs are back, ensuring your journey to be more tedious. Slice through them first. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 4 A Purple Dragon blocks your way. Kill him to continue. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 5 Theres now a bunch of different coloured dudes with metal boxing gloves. Get four more and we can make a rainbow. Weeee! ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 6 Hey red dragon! Long time no kill! Slice and dice and up we go. Don't forget to grab that chest along the way. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 7 Archers are back. So are birds. Bam bam bam, now they're gone. Go. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 8 Okay, now it becomes a bit harder. Those four legged robots are back along with yellow mists. This time 'round, robots use ice and mists still cast lights. What does that mean? That means you're screwed unless you don't break them apart. Kill the mists first or else the lightning will keep on chugging. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 9 Two red dragons. One piece of cake. Go. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 10 Long. The perfect way to describe it. Just slug it out floor by floor until you get to the boss. Nah im kidding, you just go to stage 11. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 11 Deja vu? seems like every other floor. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 12 One purple dragon and thats it. Theres even a chest nearby. Sweet! Go up. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 13 Theres a green-ish demon guarding the exit. He casts lightning instead of fireball which makes him more dangerous. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 14 The green two-headed dogs use poison. meh, kill them like any other creature. Theres also yellow mists so be careful. ...::: Area 7:Dark Castle 15 Theres a dark dragon here. Of course not THE dark dragon. Kill him to reveal the portal to the final boss of this game. You'd better be prepared.. ...::: Dark Castle ~ Boss: Dark Dragon ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 3/10 Recommended level: 24 and above Exp gained: Pshh who cares? Oh my. Here he is folks, the three headed demon dragon of ugliness. Four attacks, three heads and the softest piece of pie for a boss in this game. Uh-huh, you heard me. Don't believe me? Here, i'll describe him and you can judge for yourself. After you destroy one of his heads, it'll explode in to nothingness and then re-appear a few seconds later. Dark Dragon has three heads, each with different coloured eyes. Those colours represent the element that head has. Blue for ice, Yellow for thunder and red for fire. The head on the left has blue eyes. Sure enough, that head can cast waves of frozen ice at you. This wave would be hard to avoid if it wasn't for the gap somewhere in the wave. Just stand under it and let the ice breeze past you. If it does hit you, you'll take moderate damage and of course, be slowed. The head in the middle has yellow eyes. Lighting? yep. This time 'round, you can easily avoid the thunder claps. Just walk to the right of the rocky plateform and you'll be sweet. It still does hurts if it hits, though. The head on the right has red eyes. Ice? check. Lightning? check-o. Now just evade the slow wave of a pathetic attempt to burn you. It's not hard at all. Apart from these, the Dragon will slam one of his heads into the ground causing a shockwave that deals light damage but completely screw up your charged attack. Pound on him after he releases it. You can't attack him when he's casting a spell, only when he lowers one of his heads for a ground attack. Don't worry, he does that quite often. For Archers and Wizards, evade and charge up a attack. Then release it when he's kissing the floor. Melee fighters, i suggest you attack with a charged up weapon just after he hits the ground. If theres not enough time, go before he performs the shockwave. You'll only take a tiny amount of damage. Kill each of his heads three times (Easier done than said) and this so-called lord of darkness goes bye bye. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ I never spoil the ending no matter how big the urge. Congratulations, you have defeated Dark Dragon and saved the land of Rune. You can now play the game in Advanced mode. New monsters and harder levels. Enjoy-o. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [06] b o s s g u i d e '~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Beast Mountain ~ Boss: Beast King ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 1/10 Recommended level: bah, anything is fine against this pushover. Exp gained: 120 Oh my. A giant walking lion monster. With four snake tails. Alright, dont panic. Still awalk in the park. You'll see that your health has been re-charged to its full state prior to the battle. The monster has three attacks and the strategy on defeating him will vary accordingly to what charcter you've got. Beast King's first attack rather a annoying one for the melee warriors. He will sort of "power up" and waves of energy will be released from his feet. If the waves hit you, not only will it do considerable damage, it will also disrupt any attack being charged up. If you're using ranged however, attack all you can in this brief opportunity. His second attack is curling up into a ball and rolling around across the screen. If he hits you, he takes off a lil bit of health. The pattern that he rolls in is the same. He walks out to the center of the screen and always rolls Down first. Then to the northest corner, then the southwest, then up and then to the southeast. Finally, he returns to the middle again. When he is rolling, the only time to safely attack him is when he stops for a second as he arrives at his destination. His final attack is probably his most useless. Damage him enough and he'll walk up to the top of the screen and shoot heat-seeking white stuff at you. They follow you around but they're slow. Avoid them and kill the Beast King. Simple as pie. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Labyrinth of Death ~ Boss: Colossus ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 3/10 Recommended level: 6-8 Exp gained: 240 Giant Robot with floating hands. Beast King is nothing compared to this giant.. colossus. You're standing on a plateform and can only move around in the area given. Colossus will be in front of you, attacking non-stop. This boss has two stages. Alrighty, again this boss has three attacks. The first and most annoying is its eye lasers. He will shoot 1 laser from his left and right eye. The laser itself is hard to avoid due to its speed and randomness. His second attack is useless. He pulls out a hand from the darkness and sweeps the floor with it. Looks like hes stroking something. Anyway, even though it covers half the plateform and does decent damage, it'll never hit you as long as you keep moving. Try your best to avoid the lasers and the hands, attack his head whenever you can. Use Herbs if need be. Nothing too hard. ~ During the first stage, i've found a fairly effective trick to avoid all attacks from Collosus. I discovered that if you move to the most western corner of the plateform, his two attacks will never even touch you. This give you the opportunity to attack between his attacks.It's cheap, i know, and you can beat him easily without using it but all the same, ima include it. ~ Damage him enough and his eye'll fall out. It aint over yet because now, the eye will roll around, crushing everything in his path. A boss that rolls around after you damage it a bit. We havnt had one of those for fifteen minutes now. Alright, use the same strategy as you did with Beast King, attack when he stops rolling or if youre a archer/wizard, keep your distance and keep shooting/ cast spells. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Egual Dungeon ~ Boss: Bulzone ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 5/10 Recommended level: 11 and beyond Exp gained: 360 Hey Dragonute, that looks like your mother! Sorry, it late, me lazy. Annnyyyway. Bulzone is a giant green ugly demon, also one of the five generals of The Dark Dragon. But he doesnt plan to stay loyal to DD however, he wants to raise above everyone and conquer all. How come bosses always reveal their plans before a battle? Oh well, here goes. Jeez, hes a lot harder than anything we've come up against so far. Fear not dear reader, we shall triumph for we are the light. His first attack doesnt seem so bad, He just teleports either to the north or south and shoots out a barrage of fireballs at you. I recommend you stay in the opposite side and avoid them cuz theres no way you're getting close to him with them fireballs burning you alive. His second attack, if you get hit by it, will cut off half if not more of your health. He teleports to either the west or east side and charges up. Then he releases a green beam that will whip you back to Prontis. Dont worry, the beam takes a long time to charge and you can see what direction hes aiming at making this attack powerful, but useless. His third attack is just plain annoying. He teleports away from you and shoots out heat-seeking death white stuff (seems like every boss takes a little from beast king huh?) The damage will stack up and it will hurt. Dont try to attack him when hes doing this, you'll just end up shooting a laser into a mirror which will reflect back into your eyes and cause damage to them. yeah. During these attacks, hit and run as best as you can, try and avoid his white stuff and his fireballs. When hes charging up the giant laser, thrash him with a charged attack or two. Just be a lil patient and he'll go back to whichever hole he crawled out of. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Otherworldly forest ~ Boss: Mishaela ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 7/10 Recommended level: 18 and beyond Exp gained: 480 Purple hair girl. or five. Second general of the Dark Dragon. What the? Which ones the real Mishaela? Why am i getting whipped so easily? What the hell kinda name is "Michaela"? My gawd, this gal ain't no pushover. She'll throw ice, she'll spit lightning, she'll take you down before you can pronounce Michaela. Don't worry, we'll pull through this. Alright, this fiesty purple head has only two attacks. She'll cast ice, which will freeze you and slow you down, and lightning, which is very hard to dodge and will deal impressive damage to you. But times that by five (she splits into five) and we've just stumbled into a can of whipass, aimed at our direction. So which ones the real one? sadly, they are all identical and i cant tell you. The only way to know is to find out yourself. Dodge all of their attacks (i know its easier said than done but never the less, try your best.) and charge in as fast as you can at one of them. Use short bursts, dont bother charging up your attack, you wont have time. If you hit one, she should retreat for a bit and then start shooting you again. Keep attacking that one Michaela until she's backed into the edge. Now she'll have nowhere to run but she'll be sort of stuck there. She wont attack nor run, but sort of twitches around. Keep attacking that Michaela until either she dies or she disappears. If she does disappear, then it's not the real one. If you're getting pummeled to death, lure some of them away from the pack towards you, three will follow, two of them will stay behind. Bring plenty of healing drops/waters. You'll need them. Slug it out man, just slug it out. After she is defeated, she says she wishes to see "Master Darksol" one last time. hmm.. In any case, kudos, grab the chest and return to.. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Glaybull Temple ~ Boss: Iom ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 4/10 Recommended level: 18 and above Exp gained: 600 Four winged demon of purple rings. Third Genral of The Dark Dragon. Nowhere near as hard as Michaela. First things first, Iom cannot move during this battle which gives you a advantage. However, he has two of those underground rock lobster things that will inflict heavy damage and also freeze you, slowing you down and making you vulnerable to all other attacks. These Rock Lobster thingies called "antennae" are easy to kill with low hp but everytime you kill them, they come back after about 10 seconds or so. During time, pound on the boss as hard as you can. for Wizards and Archers, stand just outside of his range of attack and pummel him. Where's he going to run? As for the actual Iom, he has three attacks, none of them outstandingly powerful. Iom beam is a attack made from purple rings which goes straight down the middle of the plateform. easy to dodge and deals lousy damage. He'll charge up a bit before releasing it thus lowering the difficulty of avoiding it even more. He also shoots out what looks like smiling ghosts at you. Three of them to be proper, one to the west, one south west and the last directly south, all at the same time. It deals minimum damage but they're fast and a little harder to avoid if you have two antennaes on your six. On the other hand, they do minimum damage. The last attack and also the one that'll upset the melee player the most is the shock wave. Just like Beast King, he releases a power wave at his er.. waist.. which will damage you. He tenses his arms just as hes about to do this so melee charcters should attack between his attacks. General startegy for all charcters is: First defeat the two lobsters, i mean antennae, then run up to him and start thrashing Iom until the two meddling antennaes come back. Kill them, then repeat the process. Do this about 4 times or so and Dark Dragons Third general will be produced into mince. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Deol Waterway ~ Boss: Zeon ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 4/10 Recommended level: 20 and above Exp gained: 720 Freaking coward, one of the generals of the Dark Dragon. Alright, there are nine holes in the floor. Zeon can pop out of any one of holes and unleash one of his attacks. His first attack ain't too bad. He'll stick his head out and release four poison clouds that do minor damage and poison you. Its easy to dodge so evade and smack with a charged up attack. Zeon can also fire one big cloud at one direction. Now this is harder to evade since the cloud is bigger and much faster. If you get hit by this, use an antidote and some healing drops/waters if needed. Don't attack him while hes using this. He sometimes attacks you physically, too, dealing minor damages. Nothing to worry about. What makes this fight a lil hard is Zeon's speed. He won't leave you a chance to attack him, he plays hit and run. He pops up, does his thang and he's gone again, hiding in one of those holes. Since theres no way to damage him when hes down there and no way to find out which hole he's going to come out of, you're just going to have to be patient. Charge up a attack to maximum and wait you get a good opportunity. Sometimes Zeon breaks off from the plateform and takes a swim in the surrounding river. For Archers and Wizards, charge up a attack and go wild. you'll do significant damage to him. For melee users, stick play it defensive all the way through. This battle is more "long" than "hard" and if you play it right, you'll send him back to one of those holes in no time. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Dark Tower ~ Boss: Darksol ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 2/10 Recommended level: 22 and above Exp gained: 840 Darksol, The last General of Dark Dragon. What's with the darkness? Meh. The much talked about Darksol turns out to be quite a pushover. Really? Really. Really really? yes, really really. Darksol has four attacks. He floats around on top of his tower only landing to cast a spell at you. You can't attack him while he's flying so just wait. Once he lands, one of his floating swords will hover in front of him. He will cast the spell that matchs the colour of his sword. If it's.. Purple: He will cast ice. Cold, freezing ice. Once it hits you, you'll be slowed down and vulnerable to his other attacks. The actual attack doesnt do too much damage, 'tis just there to hinder youre movements. Quite easy to avoid. Red: He will cast a massive fireball at you. Takes off a bit of health, nothing special. Just a bit bigger and faster, still simple to dodge. Yellow: Oh boy. Lightning. Deals heavy damage and near immpossible to evade. As soon as you see that yellow sword, run to one of the corner and maybe, just maybe you'll evade it. This will only work if he isnt at the same corner as you. If he is, i hope you brought healing supplies. Green: Not really an attack. Darksol, unlike any other boss you've fought so far, has the ability to heal himself. ugh. Pound on him when he's doing this. Strategy? Fight him like you fought Michaela, evade his attacks and pound on him as soon as he lands. Doesn't matter which character you use, just charge up while dodging and unleash when you have the chance. He'll be dead in no time flat. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: Dark Castle ~ Boss: Dark Dragon ~ :::... Difficulty rating: 3/10 Recommended level: 24 and above Exp gained: Pshh who cares? Oh my. Here he is folks, the three headed demon dragon of ugliness. Four attacks, three heads and the softest piece of pie for a boss in this game. Uh-huh, you heard me. Don't believe me? Here, i'll describe him and you can judge for yourself. After you destroy one of his heads, it'll explode in to nothingness and then re-appear a few seconds later. Dark Dragon has three heads, each with different coloured eyes. Those colours represent the element that head has. Blue for ice, Yellow for thunder and red for fire. The head on the left has blue eyes. Sure enough, that head can cast waves of frozen ice at you. This wave would be hard to avoid if it wasn't for the gap somewhere in the wave. Just stand under it and let the ice breeze past you. If it does hit you, you'll take moderate damage and of course, be slowed. The head in the middle has yellow eyes. Lighting? yep. This time 'round, you can easily avoid the thunder claps. Just walk to the right of the rocky plateform and you'll be sweet. It still does hurts if it hits, though. The head on the right has red eyes. Ice? check. Lightning? check-o. Now just evade the slow wave of a pathetic attempt to burn you. It's not hard at all. Apart from these, the Dragon will slam one of his heads into the ground causing a shockwave that deals light damage but completely screw up your charged attack. Pound on him after he releases it. You can't attack him when he's casting a spell, only when he lowers one of his heads for a ground attack. Don't worry, he does that quite often. For Archers and Wizards, evade and charge up a attack. Then release it when he's kissing the floor. Melee fighters, i suggest you attack with a charged up weapon just after he hits the ground. If theres not enough time, go before he performs the shockwave. You'll only take a tiny amount of damage. Kill each of his heads three times (Easier done than said) and this so-called lord of darkness goes bye bye. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [07] m i s c . '~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ~ After You've completed the game for the first time with any character, you can play the game again with the same character in Advanced mode. Enemies are harder, areas are longer, and you'll get better items. ~ The Birdman says he'll make you a item if you bring him three ores of the same kind. Throughout the two games i played, i've only recieved a total of 2 ores. Both of them were Mithrils and both of them were from Monuments. ~ Monuments are statues randomly spread across maps that give you bonus items or beef you up somehow. Here are the different types of monuments. Monument of Defense: Boosts your physical defense for a short time. Monument of Fire: Increases your defense against fire by 50 for a short time. Monument of Thunder: Increases your defense against Thunder by 50 for a short time. Monument of Ice: Increases your defense against Ice by 50 for a short time. Monument of Health: Completely returns your HP back to it's full state. Monument of Mithril: Gives you a Mithril. If there are more, lemme know will ya? ~ There is a strange Ninja that goes by the name of Kagemaru that is sometimes found in Prontis Village. He usually gives out minor items but there free. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~' [08] FAQ ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ None. I know y'all gonna start milking me for questions so ima keep this space open. remember, pf_yu (at) hotmail (dot) com ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ [09] t h a n k s '~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ CjayC - For Hosting this FAQ and more to come. Sega - for making a decent GBA rpg. ~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~'~ ...::: [10] Legal stuff :::... This unofficial Shining Soul walkthrough for gba was created 31st December, 2006. Copyright 2006. pf_yu. All rights reserved. This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. All content inside this guide was created and owned by Yu G. This Shining Soul FAQ was written by pf_yu, who holds all copyright for this document, in whole and in part. This guide cannot be modified in any way or be used to create derivative works based upon this doccument in whole or in part. You may download the file for your personal, non-commercial use only. You may not use this guide or permit anyone else to use this guide for commercial purposes. Do not remove any copyrights. If you do have any intentions of stealing, modifying, disconstructing this guide, beat it. Just beat it. ============================================================================== Last words ============================================================================== Well.. it's certainly been fun. My first completed guide evah, full of bad puns, detailed boss fights, legal junk, the whole shi-bang. Mothers often say that no-one other than mothers know what it's like to give life but i beg to differ! This FAQ is the start of something beautiful, i prah-mise thee. I have to thank anyone that is reading this, there'd be no need for writers if there are no viewers. Expect to see more of me on Game faqs, 2007 is looking to be a great year. ~ pf_yu ...::: Now ima get some much-needed sleep.