________________ __ __ __ ____ __ * -------------* * * * * * * * * * * * ___________* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * v * * 4 * * * * *_________ * * * *^* * * *_* * * *___ * ---------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * ________* *__* *__* *__* *__* *__* *_____* * * * * ________________ ____ __ __ __________ _____ ______ __ __ * * * ------------ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ___________* * * * * * * *__ _* * * * __* * * * * * * * * * 4 * * \* * * * * 4 * \ \ * * * * * * * *_________ * *_* * * *\ * * * * *_* * _\ \ \ / * * ---------* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ________* *__* *__* *__* *__* *__* *__* *__* *______* * * * * ____________________________* * * * *------------------------------- * * * *________________________________* * * * * * * * THE LOW LEVEL GUIDE 3.0 Copyright 2009 to japanzaman Contact: japanzaman@gmail.com o---------o | Credits | o=========o - Kain Stryder for his Monster List FAQ. Very handy. - AKishan for his Boss FAQ. Had some good info in it. - Zzonkmiles for his Solo White Mage Guide. Had some good strategies for taking on bosses with a weak party. - BSulpher for his general Final Fantasy FAQ/Walkthrough. It was the place I went to for general details when I was too lazy to look them up myself. - The anonymous tool assisted Final Fantasy Speed Run video on Youtube which gave me some ideas about running from certain enemies. - beege_man for informing me about running and the random battle script system the game uses. He also pointed me towards a bunch of nice info. - Patbuns17 for his amazing Character Lists guide. Not only does it have the encounter script all written out, it has every possible enemy confrontation in every part of the game laid out making avoiding unnecessary experience MUCH easier. - Silktail for compiling the unavoidable enemy list from the raw game data. - Rincewind, Bsiron, sqpat, silktail, anomiex, and paulygon. The guys who dug through the source code to explain many of the fundamental game mechanics. - AstralEsper for pointing out some of the mistakes in the guide and for demonstrating that a Black Mage does, in fact, belong in the low level game discussion. - RenamonFOX & Branimirb for their thoughts on the F/F/F/Bm lineup. - SeikaHa for bringing to my attention that you can afford to have party members die in the Lich battle. o-----------------o | Version History | o=================o 1.0 - Was my first stab at the guide. I laid down the basic strategy for running the low game, but it was lacking in a major fundamental area. 1.01- I made a few unimportant edits that slipped by me the first time. 2.0 - After being informed by beege_man about the random encounter script and how it works, the challenge took on a whole new light. I reworked pretty much every chapter of the game after the Marsh Cave to account for the method of avoiding battles that cannot be run from. I also made a few clarifications that beege_man pointed out concerning running. 2.10- I made a few corrections to a couple of typos that I had overlooked in my eagerness to get the updated version of the guide out. I fixed the error in my running calculations and took AstralEsper's advice and updated my evaluation concerning the Black Mage. In a nutshell, I was too quick to overlook the potential value a Black Mage could bring to the table. I also added a another safe path for the Earth Cave Part II that is earlier in the battle script to make the Lich fight more doable. I'd like to think this is a complete product, but never say never. 2.11- Corrected a mistake in the safe path for the Earth Cave Part I. 2.12- Revised my safe path for the Ice Cave to avoid Mage groupings. 2.20- Changed the strategy for grabbing the Masamune and pointed out the fixed battle next to the stairs in the Water floor in ToFR. Changed error in the Eye fight concerning using a Soft in battle when you actually cannot. Added Battle Slot/Enemy Groupings index and cleaned up some of of the other mistakes. 2.21- Made what I hope are the final corrections to the FAQ. I'm sure there's still some errors hiding somewhere in this guide, but I'm sure they're not bad enough to ruin the experience. I also corrected myself for stupidly thinking the battles near the staircase in the Water level of the ToFR were fixed. Ugh... 3.0- Besides giving much of the guide a visual makeover, I went through and fleshed out a strategy for using the Black Mage grouping. I also made note of being able to have members die against Lich, which makes the challenge much more doable. o----------o | CONTENTS | o==========o I. Introduction & Explanations II. Getting Started A. Levels & Experience ..... [[[[[[[[[ B. The Party ..... ([[[[[[[( C. The Formation ..... (([[[[[(( D. Running ..... ((([[[((( E. The Encounter System ..... (((([(((( III. The Guide 1. Garland & The Princess ..... ^-^ 2. The Sleeping Prince ..... ~-~ 3. The Rotting Earth ..... :-: 4. The Great Ordeal ..... %-% 5. Getting Airborn ..... #-# 6. Treasure Hunting! ..... $$$ 7. Threat From Above ..... &-& 8. Some Like It Hot ..... =-= 9. Under The Sea... Again ..... 0-0 10. Temple of Fiends Revisted ..... !-! IV. Supplemental Information a. Experience / Level Appendix ..... )[[[[[[[[ b. Boss / Enemy Index ..... )[[[[[[[) c. Battle Slot / Enemy Groupings ..... ))[[[[[)) d. Optimal Paths ..... )))[[[))) e. Ship Game Tutorial ..... ))))))))) To jump to a certain section just copy the tag next to the part you want to look up and then paste it into your browser's Find field. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== I. Introduction & Explanations o---------------o | THE CHALLENGE | o===============o Hello, and welcome to my Final Fantasy Low Level Guide. This guide is all about getting you through Final Fantasy at Lvl. 9, the lowest level possible. I always wondered why there were so many solo FAQs for this game but never any low level guides. As I got further into the challenge, I began to understand that was because completing this game at the lowest level possible is very, very, difficult. This guide has gone through quite a few changes since I first wrote version 1.0. When I first attempted this challenge and wrote this guide, I was doing things the hard way. I had no idea about the random battle scripting the game uses to determine enemy encounters, which made the challenge MUCH more difficult than it really needed to be. Oh, it's still plenty difficult, I can assure you. But the fact that we don't have to worry about resets coming from running into some of the unavoidable enemy encounters makes things at least possible. I had never been able to beat the final level before, but upon discovering the script I was able to do it- after many, many failed attempts. So yes, this challenge can be done. It's just a little complicated and VERY luck based. To put things in perspective: I have spent months playing this challenge on and off and have beaten it for real only ONCE. And I highly doubt I'll ever do it again! I owe a lot of thanks to beege_man, who sent me an email about a week after the FAQ went out and gave me the heads up on the encounter system and how running works. He pointed me towards info that I have used to make this challenge much easier, especially Patbuns17's Character Lists Guide. This guide is easily the most important reference material for completing this challenge, but you'd never know it due to its unassuming name. I should also give a shout to all the people in the Final Fantasy Board on gamefaq.com. I've gotten tons of great input that, without, this guide would never have become this complete. In this guide, I'm not going to pretend to have all the answers. This is just the product of my experiences with this challenge, and I'm sure there are some areas where my strategy could be improved upon. I should also point out that there are several areas of the game where you will have to make decisions about gaining experience that have fairly large repurcussions later in the game. I'll present you with your options and give my recommendation, but I'll leave the final decision to you. I should also mention that this challenge and guide were not intended for first time players. Getting through this game at low levels requires an intimate knowledge of the game and how it works. I will also not be including minor details such as the exact location of treasures and equipment stats. If you need that kind information you should check one of the general FAQ/Guides for the game. The basic structure of this guide is as follows. First, I start off by clarifying what it is we are trying to achieve and setting some ground rules. After that, we move into the Getting Started section where I cover a broad range of topics such as optimal party configurations, experience and level breakdowns, running, the random encounter system, and unavoidable enemy encounters. These are very important sections that you should definitely look over before attempting this challenge. After that is the actual guide which will tell you how to get through the challenge. In the final section I have compiled relative information concerning enemies, safe battle paths for levels, complete enemy group listings for all levels with unavoidable battles, and a tutorial for completing the ship bonus game. o---------------o | CLARIFICATION | o===============o The first thing we should do before we start is define what we mean by "Low Level Game." I can think of three possible ways one could play a low level game in Final Fantasy. 1. Lowest Average Character Level This is where you simply average all the characters' levels upon completing the game. Unfortunately, it just turns into a solo game. Been there, done that. 2. Lowest Active Character Level In this challenge you strive for the lowest level possible with your active characters while allowing a dummy character to take on all unwanted experience. Kind of pointless, really. 3. Lowest Average Character Level & Lowest Level Difference This is the big boy, and the path this guide will focus on. All your party members will end up with the same amount of experience at the same level when you complete the game. This means nobody can die in a battle where your party takes experience (with the one exception in the Lich fight). o-----------o | EMULATORS | o===========o Another issue that should be addressed is the use of emulators, particularly the Save / Load state function of the emulators. For the purposes of this challenge, the use of these functions is strictly FORBIDDEN. Saving is only to be done within the limits set in the original NES game. I do, however, suggest that you do a test run before attempting this challenge as it will give you an opportunity to experiment with different strategies on different areas of the game. During the test run you should utilize the save / load state function to speed things up. Another thing you should make sure of before starting this challenge is that the emulator you are using (if you are in fact using one) has a POWER off function that will simulate a fresh restart. In Final Fantasy, performing a fresh restart will reset the battle script back to 1, which can be very useful when you have to replay levels like the Earth Cave and the final level hundreds of times. Most emulators have the function, but check just to be sure before you get too far into the the challenge. =============================================================================== =============================================================================== II. Getting Started /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |[[[[[[[[[ | { A. Levels & Experience } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| Beating Final Fantasy at Lvl. 9 is an amazingly difficult thing to do. If you add up all the experience from all the necessary battles and assume every character survives each fight, you will accumulate 8,350 experience points. You can get a full break down of boss experience in section B of the Supplemental Information section of the guide. Your characters reach Lvl. 9 at 7,957 experience points, meaning there is no way to finish the game any lower than level 9*, even if you somehow managed to avoid all other random enemy encounters. The good news is that we don't reach level 10 until the 11,116 point mark, so that gives us 2776 points to spare. I will recommend you use 582 of those points to get the class change as I don't think it's possible to beat some of the later boss fights without it. There is a full break down of Levels 1-10 and the experience required to reach them in section A of the Supplemental Information part of the guide. Technically, you can get there at level 8 by using FEAR on Kary, but the odds are so low you might as well consider it impossible. Plus, you'd need a White Mage and we already know why that's a problem. You would also have to find another path through the final level that does not hit an inescapable encounter, and that's not exactly the easiest thing to do. Because the final level is pretty much impossible to get through without running into an unavoidable enemy encounter, we are going to have to make sure we get through all of the others without taking any more experience than is necessary (the lone exception being the Lich battle). Luckily for us, we have a pretty good way to do this. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |([[[[[[[( | { B. The Party } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| In Final Fantasy, our first decision ultimately ends up being the most important decision we make. Unless we pick the right party, our chances of success in the low level game take a sharp nosedive. Also, bear in mind that many of the classes that are powerful in the normal game are rendered quite useless in the low level game. First, let's go through the different classes and see how they stack up against one another in this challenge. <<< Fighter / Knight >>> Pros: A tank right from the start. He has the highest HP of all the classes and gains access to the best equipment in the game when upgraded to a Knight. Cons: There really isn't anything not to like about this guy. His equipment is pretty pricey early in the game, though. You'll need at least 2 of these guys to make it through the game, 3 depending on your preference. <<< Black Belt / Master >>> Pros: Doesn't cost a lot to equip, and boasts a decent Evade stat. Cons: At low levels this guy is practically worthless. He contributes nothing offensively and will end up getting killed more times than anybody else. At high levels, this guy becomes a god. But for this challenge, he's pretty much worthless. Do not even think of using this guy. <<< Thief / Ninja >>> Pros: His high Luck stat means running is guaranteed right from the beginning of the game as long as he is in one of the top two slots in the party and the character two slots below him has a Normal status (more on this later). His equipment also expands quite nicely when upgraded to a Ninja. Cons: In the early stages of the game he can't equip very good weapons and armor, making him a big target for enemies. Never underestimate how important having a 100% runner can be in this challenge. The only other class that has a chance of getting a Luck stat of 16 by level 9 is the Black Mage, and that would most likely require selective leveling (thanks to AstralEsper for pointing that out). The Thief will achieve this by level 2, so running should be easy for most of the game. Some may favor a more durable Fighter, but this guy is going to save you a lot of resets, especially later in the game. <<< White Mage / White Wizard >>> Pros: Can cast some healing magic. Cons: Aside from a few useless spells, there really isn't anything a this class can do that a Red Mage can't. His low HP and defense make him a walking target for enemies, forcing you to burn tons of potions just to keep him alive. No good. <<< Black Mage / Black Wizard >>> Pros: Originally I had dismissed this class as being too frail to offer any real help to completing this challenge. However, AstralEsper pointed out a few pros to having this guy in your party. The main advantage is having access to FIR2 against Lich in the Earth Cave and having Fast for Chaos. FIR2 may not make much of a difference, but I can promise you that FAST does make a huge difference when taking on Chaos. Cons: As I mentioned in previous versions of the guide, this guy is very frail and will die a lot. His spell repetiore is also not all that different from that of a Red Mage. After playing through the challenge with this class, I must admit now that a Black Mage can be just as valuable as a Red Mage, though in different parts of the game. Having FAST for the final battle is huge, and you gain a slight advantage in the Lich fight with FIR2. However, his frailty will come back to haunt you at the most inopportune times, so be aware that there are pluses and minuses with this character. <<< Red Mage / Red Wizard >>> Pros: Aside from using both white and black magic, he can also equip the Chain Armor, making him an instant tank along with your Fighters. He can also equip some fairly powerful weapons and armor when upgraded to a Red Wizard. Cons: He has relatively low HP compared Fighters or Thieves, making him somewhat of a liability in certain boss fights. What he lacks in HP he makes up for by being durable and flexible, especially early in the game. You'll want his magic for many of the boss fights, unless you feel comfortable relying on critical hits. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |(([[[[[(( | { C. The Formation } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| Now that we have weeded out the useless classes, it's time to figure out what line-up we will be using. While there are many line-ups that are technically possible, there are two line-ups that I feel stand out above the rest. There are probably many other line-ups one could use, such as substituting another Fighter in for the Thief. However, these are the two that I have found work best after playing through the challenge a couple of times. Line-up 4: 2 Fighters + 1 Thief + 1 Red Mage This is my preferred group, as it has the most flexibility. Magic gets covered with the Red Mage and running gets covered with the Thief. This group can take on just about anything the game throws at you right from the very beginning, making the challenge much more enjoyable. The only downside is that the final battle with Chaos is going to involve much more luck as you won't have FAST to help you. This can be overlooked, in my opinion, by the overall durability of your party, especially once you get the class change. There won't be one weak link on the team, so getting to the big battles won't be such a chore. Line-up 2: 2 Fighters + Thief + Black Mage This group performs on the whole just as well as my personal favorite Line-up 4. There were times early in the game when the Black Mage cost me some resets, but he made up for it in the last battle with Chaos. I ran the battle on an emulator to get the odds and beat him after 49 attempts, but also got very close on numerous other tries. This is definitely the group to take on Chaos with, but not the group to take on many other parts of the game. All in all, expect some of the tougher levels like the Ice Cave and Sky Castle to give you trouble as the Black Wizard is a fairly vulnerable target, even with good equipment. If these formations don't seem to suite your style, you could go with one of the following, but be warned that they are not quite as well rounded as the two formations I recommend: 4 Fighters - Toughest group out there, but you'll struggle in certain battles due to a lack of magic. Running is also difficult as fighters have low luck and suck at running. 3 Fighters - A decent grouping, though a lack of magic could hurt you in 1 Thief in the Chaos and Astos battle. Lich is a toss up, as you're more likely to survive ICE2 but won't have FIRE magic to help you out. 3 Fighters - A solid grouping, yet running becomes a problem later on in 1 Red Mage the game. Expect to burn lots of potions with this team. 3 Fighters - Probably the best group for fighting Chaos and Lich, but 1 Bl. Mage relying on your Black Mage for running is a pretty dicey game to play in the final levels. My guide will focus primarily around the top two setups, so if you want to try something different you are going to be on your own for many parts of this guide. I do believe, however, that much of the strategy I lay out can be adapted to fit a variety of teams so if you feel adventurous feel free to give another line-up a try and tell me how it goes! /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |((([[[((( | { D. Running } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| In the previous version of my guide I gave a bare bones explanation for running that, while not entirely incorrect, did not accurately explain how the system works. Luckily for me, beege_man gave me a pretty good explanation that I'll paraphrase here. First and foremost, you can always run when you have the first attack. However, the normal system is bugged, which is why running works so well for characters that are in the first and second slots in your group. Here is how the game was supposed to calculate the odds of running: Luck > Random # between {15 + Character Level}. However, due to the bug the first character uses the status of the third character, the second character uses the status of the third character, the third uses an entry from he turn order array, and the fourth character uses the 1-digit from his HP. Here is a list of the status values: 00 = Normal 01 = Dead 02 = Stone 04 = Poison 08 = Dark 10 = Paralysis 20 = Sleep 40 = Mute 80 = Conf So what essentially happens to a character in the top two slots is the game takes the status of the character two slots below, adds that value to 15 and then compares a random number between 0 and that sum to your Luck. If your Luck is higher than that number you will run successfully. So if your Luck is 16 or higher, you will always be successful if the character two slots below the running character is Normal as the status value for normal is 0. However, your chances of running are fairly good for Dead, Stone, and Poison. For example, if your character has a Luck stat of 16 and the character two slots down is Poisoned, the formula would go as follows. 16> RND# {15 + 4}. This means your chance of success is 16/19, as odds are that a random number between 0-19 is less than 16 is pretty good. However, other status elements have higher values that make running less successful. Here is a table of probabilities for every status element assumming your running character has a Luck stat of 16. A higher Luck will have a slightly higher chance of success. Normal = 100% Dead = 94% Stone = 88% Poison = 79% Dark = 65% Paralyze = 60% Sleep = 43% Mute = 27% Conf = 16% The only character that will realistically reach a Luck stat of 16 in this challenge is the Thief, who should reach it at Level 2. Even if the character two slots below him happens to get hit with a status infliction, you still have pretty good odds to run if it's Dead, Stone, Poison, Dark, or Paralyze. Since these are most of the status ailments you'll run into, your odds will be pretty good most of the time no matter what happens as long as you are using a Thief. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |(((([(((( | { E. The Encounter System } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| The encounter system in this game is unique in that there are no true random encounters in this game at all! For somebody who has played the game for so long, I was shocked that I had never heard about something so fundamental and basic to the game. I knew that the game scripted it's encounters upon loading the game, but I had always assumed that it randomly loaded a script every time the game was booted up. This, however, is not the case. Let me again differ to beege_man, who set the record straight for me. ".Ok I'm sure you know the random number generator in this game isn't very good. Basically theres just a list of 256 random values that it loops through. Where it starts in the list is the only random factor. There's also an encounter list for each area and a pointer that moves through the list sequentially. If you start from a fresh reset you should always be at the same place in the encounter table. (Note some emulators don't simulate a fresh reset properly, so this may not work quite right on all emulators, you may have to "power off" the game to get it right)." This is the script he is referring to. If you are serious about completing this challenge I recommend you either print this out or copy it to a more accessible document for easy referencing. 1: 3 33: 3 65: 1 97: 4 129: 8 161: 5 193: 2 225: 1 2: 4 34: 7 66: 4 98: 3 130: 4 162: 3 194: 1 226: 4 3: 3 35: 1 67: 3 99: 6 131: 4 163: 2 195: 2 227: 3 4: 6 36: 2 68: 2 100: 5 132: 2 164: 2 196: 6 228: 1 5: 2 37: 7 69: 6 101: 4 133: 7 165: 4 197: 8 229: 4 6: 2 38: 1 70: 4 102: 1 134: 4 166: 4 198: 4 230: 3 7: 7 39: 4 71: 3 103: 1 135: 2 167: 3 199: 1 231: 2 8: 5 40: 5 72: 2 104: 3 136: 2 168: 3 200: 1 232: 3 9: 3 41: 3 73: 1 105: 4 137: 2 169: 1 201: 4 233: 1 10: 5 42: 3 74: 4 106: 2 138: 7 170: 4 202: 3 234: 6 11: 5 43: 5 75: 5 107: 3 139: 6 171: 3 203: 1 235: 1 12: 1 44: 4 76: 5 108: 4 140: 1 172: 2 204: 3 236: 5 13: 6 45: 4 77: 2 109: 3 141: 5 173: 5 205: 5 237: 3 14: 2 46: 6 78: 3 110: 2 142: 3 174: 1 206: 8 238: 2 15: 5 47: 6 79: 3 111: 5 143: 4 175: 3 207: 5 239: 4 16: 1 48: 1 80: 6 112: 3 144: 1 176: 1 208: 2 240: 1 17: 2 49: 4 81: 2 113: 1 145: 3 177: 4 209: 2 241: 1 18: 4 50: 6 82: 3 114: 2 146: 5 178: 3 210: 2 242: 1 19: 5 51: 1 83: 5 115: 6 147: 2 179: 4 211: 7 243: 4 20: 7 52: 1 84: 1 116: 2 148: 3 180: 3 212: 8 244: 6 21: 4 53: 6 85: 6 117: 2 149: 5 181: 5 213: 3 245: 6 22: 2 54: 3 86: 2 118: 5 150: 4 182: 4 214: 5 246: 4 23: 4 55: 6 87: 3 119: 4 151: 1 183: 2 215: 4 247: 3 24: 7 56: 3 88: 1 120: 7 152: 6 184: 1 216: 2 248: 3 25: 1 57: 4 89: 2 121: 2 153: 2 185: 4 217: 2 249: 6 26: 4 58: 3 90: 4 122: 2 154: 1 186: 1 218: 1 250: 5 27: 2 59: 7 91: 1 123: 4 155: 1 187: 2 219: 3 251: 6 28: 1 60: 2 92: 3 124: 3 156: 4 188: 1 220: 3 252: 2 29: 1 61: 2 93: 4 125: 4 157: 1 189: 2 221: 1 253: 2 30: 4 62: 1 94: 2 126: 4 158: 3 190: 7 222: 1 254: 3 31: 6 63: 4 95: 3 127: 2 159: 4 191: 2 223: 3 255: 4 32: 6 64: 6 96: 6 128: 3 160: 1 192: 7 224: 1 256: 1 * I did not compile this script. Patbuns17 compiled it with data he got from Rincewind. Essentially, the game starts at 1 on the 256 battle script every time there is a fresh restart, or power off. A soft restart will NOT affect the counter for the script, so you will pick up right where you left off. This means that when preparing for a level like the Temple of Fiends Revisited, we need to make sure that we find a safe path as early in the script as possible. After all, if the only safe path started at #226 in the script, you would have to run from 225 battles before you could attempt the run. (Luckily for us, I found a way starting right at 1!). Each area of the game has 8 different enemy groupings that the game script cycles through. By area, I mean floor of a particular level, which is what allows us to avoid many of the monsters in the game. For example, you might see Waters in F3 of the Sea Shrine at slot 2, but they might apear in another slot on another floor. The other thing to note is that the 8'th slot only appears in the battle script 4 times, meaning the odds of hitting that battle are 1/64 if you don't know your position on the script. However, the first 8 does not even show up in the script until the 129'th battle, so if you are doing lots of fresh restarts there is a good chance you will never hit that battle. In Patbuns17's guide, all of these groupings are detailed for every part of the game. We, however, need only concern ourselves with the areas that contain unavoidable enemy groupings. In this guide, I will only be mentioning the battle number for the script as it is all you really need to know. In this challenge we will need to know where we are on the script in order to make sure we fight the battles we want in certain levels of the game. The only way to do this is to either do a fresh restart (power off) to take the script back to 1, or find an area where you can run battles and look up the sequence in the script. If you want to find where you are in the battle script without resorting to a fresh restart, you'll need run five battles somewhere, record the battles you fought using Patbuns17's guide, and then look up the corresponding sequence in the script. It is important you keep track of exactly where you are in the battle script when using this guide as I will be refering to the battle script at the beginning of any section where we will be avoiding certain enemy encounters! PINPOINTING YOUR POSITION Figuring out where you are in the battle script is very important, but what is the best way to go about it? Well, we could just pick any place and fight some battles and then compare it to the script in Patbuns17's Character Lists guide. However, there are a few things we should probably consider: 1) There are no unavoidable battles in that area. This is why we can't just go to any level and start fighting. There are also many places in the World Map that have unavoidable encounters as well. 2) The enemies are easy. We don't want to be getting killed and burning lots of potions. We need a place we can run lots of battles very economically. 3) You can tell the encounters apart from one another. It won't do much good if you can't tell any of the battles from one another. This usually occurs when the same encounter shows up in multiple battle slots or when the same enemies show up in many of the encounters. We need battles that have lots of different enemies so we can tell which are which. 4) You can get to it quickly. If we have to walk somewhere far it isn't going to be all that useful. I recommend using the area between Coneria and Provoka to pinpoint your location as it fulfills all the requirements and is very easy to get to no matter what point in the game you are at. The 5'th and 6'th battle slots do have the same battle, but I've never needed to fight more than five battles to figure out where I was on the battle script. Here are the enemies and what battle slot they appear in: Slot Encounter Label Enemies ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 9a Iguana x1 2 7a Creep x1-2 3 2a GrImp x1-3, Wolf x0-2, GrWolf x0-2 4 6b Madpony x2-4 5 3b Wolf x4-6, GrWolf x0-1 6 3b Wolf x4-6, GrWolf x0-1 7 Ca Ogre x1-2 8 7b Creep x1-3, Ogre x1 UNAVOIDABLE ENEMY ENCOUNTERS In my previous versions of the guide, I had made the mistaken assumption that the game determined running based on certain enemies. The way the game actually determines which battles can be run from and which cannot is actually decided by the enemy group rather than an individual enemy. This explains why you can run from some enemies in certain battles and not others. I've included a full list of these encounters in the Supplemental Information section of the guide if you are interested, courtesy of silktail. This information comes straight from the game's code, so there is no longer any more vagueness about what you can run from and what you cannot run from. There are a grand total of 41 total encounters that you cannot run from, including boss fights. There are also two encounters listed in the game data that never show up in the actual game. If you follow the path I've selected for each level, though, you'll never see these encounters at all (with one exception in the final level). ;) If you'd like to see all the "safe paths" that will take you through the levels without running into these encounters see the Supplemental Info section at the back of the guide. Note that there are undoubtedly more possible safe paths than what I have listed. I choose the paths I choose because they are straight shots that don't involve any backtracking and allow you to fight as few battles as possible. Shall we get on with the guide now? =============================================================================== =============================================================================== III. The Guide The guide is divided up into 10 chapters, some longer and more difficult to complete than others. You should also note that we do things in a slightly different order in the low level game than you might be accustomed to, so make sure you read ahead to make sure you know what you're supposed to do next. Or, you could try your own way and prove me wrong! ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 1 | | ) | ^-^ | | | | ^-^ | (____________| | Garland & The Princess | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o---------o | CONERIA | o=========o After entering your characters names, the game opens up with your team standing outside of Coneria. Head inside the city and buy the following: Red Mage Grouping: 3 Chain Armor (240 GP) 1 Wooden Armor (40 GP) 4 Rapier (40 GP) Equip the Fighters and the Red Mage with the Chain Armor and Rapiers. The Wooden Armor and other Rapier go to the Thief. Black Mage Grouping 2 Chain Armor (160 GP) 1 Wooden Armor (40 GP) 1 Cloth (10 GP) 3 Rapier (30 GP) FIRE (100 GP) Equip the Chain Armor on the Fighters, the Wooden Armor on the Thief, and the Cloth on the Black Mage. The Rapiers should be equipped on the Fighters and the Thief while the Black Mage goes empty handed. You could buy him a weapon but it would be a waste of cash. Be sure you have your Thief in the second slot in your group and save in the Inn. This way you won't have to redo all of this should somebody happen to die against Garland or on the way to the Temple of Fiends. o------------------o | TEMPLE OF FIENDS | o==================o Getting to the Temple of Fiends shouldn't be too difficult unless you get unlucky and happen upon a group of Mad Ponies or Grey Wolves. The Thief will make running from these battles very easy, so odds are you should make it to Garland with your HP fairly high. When you get to the Temple of Fiends just ignore all the treasures and head straight for Garland. Before you engage in battle, be sure to move your Thief to the final slot so there is less of a chance he will get killed. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 1 | | | | Garland | | | | HP: 106 | | EXP: 32 | | GP: 250 | | | | Party Level: 1 | | | | | | This is a pretty simple battle that you should win unless you get unlucky | | and Garland gets a critical hit or attacks your Thief more than once. With | | everyone attacking you should drop him in 3 or 4 rounds, maybe even faster | | if you manage to score a critical hit. If you are using the Black Mage | | grouping you can cast FIRE and put him away even quicker. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O When Garland is beaten talk to the Princess to be transported back to Coneria. o---------o | CONERIA | o=========o Get the Lute and talk to the King for the bridge. Then head back to town and pick up CURE for your Red Mage. I also recommend picking up a Tent before saving at the Inn as it could help make the trip to Provoka a little easier. Just make sure you have at least 50 GP to spare after staying at the Inn so you can save at the Inn in Provoka before fighting the Pirates. o---------o | PROVOKA | o=========o Be sure you put your Thief in the second slot before heading off. When you're ready take your team across the newly formed bridge and watch the little cut scene. I usually use a tent to save here so I don't have to watch the cut scene over and over again should my Thief die on the way to Provoka. The enemies in this area are much more dangerous than the Imps and Wolves we saw back in the Coneria area. Grey Wolves, Creeps, Ogres, and Iguanas are all roaming the area, not to mention packs of Mad Ponies. The only thing you can do is run and hope your Thief gets you out of there before the enemies zero in on him. You do have some CURE charges, so make use of them if the Thief drops below 20 HP. Once you make it to Provoka, be sure to put your Thief back in the rear or third slot before you save at the Inn. After you are ready, head over to Bikke to trigger the next battle. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 2 | | | | Pirates | | | | HP: 6 | | EXP: 90 | | GP: 360 | | | | Party Level: 1 | | | | This is a fairly easy battle as long as the Pirates don't all gang up on | | your weaker party members. You can pick them off one at a time with ease | | using either attacks or magic with your Black Mage. Unless you are very | | unlucky you should win this battle. | | | | You will go up to level two after this fight, and your mages will gain a | | charge of level 2 magic. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O After the battle is over, talk to Bikke to claim your ship. You should head over to the Inn and save now, as our journey is just about ready to really begin. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 2 | | ) | ~-~ | | | | ~-~ | (____________| | The Sleeping Prince | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o----------o | SHOPPING | o==========o The first thing that should be apparent at the start of this chapter is that our party is in no position to handle the tasks that are ahead of us. At least not yet, anyway. We are going to have to do a lot of shopping to get our team strong enough to handle some of the upcoming enemies and bosses, and all of this equipment is going to cost money. Lots of it. Here is a list of what we need to buy and where we can get it. Red Mage Group Elfland Provoka Coneria ----------- ----------- ---------- 2 Iron Armors 4 Gloves LIT 2 Silver Swords MUTE 2 Caps 2 Wooden Helmets 2 Iron Shields You also need to pick up the following items: 40 Potions 20 Pures 5 Tents Black Mage Group Elfland Provoka Coneria ----------- ----------- ---------- 2 Iron Armors 4 Gloves LIT 2 Silver Swords ICE 2 Caps 2 Wooden Helmets 2 Iron Shields 1 Copper Bracelet You also need to pick up the following items: 40 Potions 20 Pures 5 Tents The grand total for this little shopping spree comes to 15,275 GP for the Red Mage Group and 16,275 GP for the Black Mage group. Wow, that's a lot of gold. The next question that logically follows is, "Where are we going to get that kind of cash?" We can start by raiding the Dwarf Cave for a quicky 1,025 GP. The other 14,250/ 15,250 GP is going to have to be earned the HARD WAY. And by that, of course, I mean the ship bonus game. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the ship bonus game, you access it by first boarding your ship and then pressing the A and B buttons together 55 times in a row. You then solve a sliding number tile game that gives you 100 GP each time you beat it. That means you will need to play and beat this game 143 times to raise the necessary funds. This will easily take 4 hours, longer if you aren't fast with the numbers. I have included a crash course on how to complete this number puzzle in the Supplemental Information section of the guide for those of you who aren't very good at this game. My personal recommendation is to buy things in chunks so you don't have to sit and play the game 143 straight times. I promise this is the ONLY time we will have to resort to this gimmicky game, so be patient. Once you have the cash and have purchased the items, it's time to get the party equipped. Fighters: Silver Sword, Iron Shield, Wood Helmets, Gloves, Iron Armor Thief: Rapier, Cap, Gloves, Wooden Armor Red Mage: Rapier, Cap, Gloves, Chain Armor or { Black Mage: Cap, Gloves, Copper Bracelet The reason we went to so much trouble for the Silver Swords is because aside from LIT, it is the only effective method we have for damaging Wizards, who we will be meeting very soon. They also make the Astos fight much easier. You could also think about upgrading your Thief from the Wooden Armor to the Copper Bracelet. The defensive bonus is the same for both, but the Copper Bracelet boasts a higher evade rate. When everything is ready, put your Thief back in the second slot and save at the Inn in Elfland. o------------o | MARSH CAVE | o============o This is the first real challenge our party faces, and it's a fairly decent one. What makes this level so difficult is that the battle with the Wizards is completely based on luck. First, we have to hope we only fight two of them and then hope that we survive the battle with everyone alive. Not to mention that the other enemies in the Marsh Cave are going to make this process even more difficult. Getting to the Marsh Cave shouldn't be too difficult, though the Thief is still fairly vulnerable. Use potions to heal if you must as we need the spell charges for the battle with the Wizards. When you make it to the Marsh Cave, be sure to set up a tent outside and save before going in as there is a very high chance you are going to have to attempt this level quite a few times before you ultimately succeed. Just about everything in this level either poisons or paralyzes you, so running may be more difficult as our chances hinge on whether or not our mage is healthy. The most dangerous enemies by far in this level are Scorpions and Gargoyles, both which can kill our Thief fairly easily. Mucks can also pose a threat if they get a good enough shot off. The only thing you can do if you run into these enemies is hope your Thief gets his turn early or that your other characters can get away. Ignore all the treasures in this cave for now, as the only thing we need to concern ourselves with is getting to the Crown. When you finally make it to the Wizards, be sure to put your Thief in the back slot and heal your group up. We need to fight only 2 Wizards, so if you see 3 or 4, you'll have to reset and try again. This can be a fairly aggravating process, but sooner or later you'll get the matchup you're looking for. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 3 | | | | Wizards | | | | HP: 84 | | EXP: 138 | | GP: 600 | | | | Party Level: 2 | | | | | | This is our first boss battle that hinges on luck. A Wizard can kill our | | Thief and mages in a single hit, and the Fighters will likely go down in | | two. We need to hope the Wizards spread their attacks out while our | | Fighters get some good hits in order to win this battle with everyone alive.| | | | | | For the opening round, have both your Fighters concentrate their attacks on | | a Wizard while your Thief gives a Heal to the top Fighter. Your Red/Black | | Mage should cast LIT on the same Wizard the Fighters are attacking. With | | some luck, you can kill one of the Wizards in the first round. If you don't,| | repeat the same actions the next round to make sure you kill one of them. | | Have the Thief give a Heal to whoever is in the most need of one. After the | | first Wizard falls, the battle becomes easier. Just concentrate your | | attacks and LIT on the remaining Wizard while your Thief distributes | | healing and sooner or later you'll win. | | | | When you defeat the Wizards your party will go up in level. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O When the battle is over, be sure to grab the Crown before leaving. You should also put your Thief back in the second slot and heal your group up as they have just gained a level and now have more HP. Pull out all the stops on the way out, as we don't want to have to re-do the Wizard fight again if we can help it. It's not the end of the world if somebody dies as we can bring them back to life before attempting Astos. Just run like mad and hope you don't see a large Ghoul/Gheist group. When you finally make it out use a tent to save immediately. o------------------o | NORTHWEST CASTLE | o==================o A Red Mage group can go directly to the Northwest Castle to take on Astos from this point if you feel good about your potion supply and spell charges. If you are playing with the Black Mage grouping, I recommend you head back to Elfland to take refill your spell charges as the extra shot of Ice can make a big difference when taking on Astos. Once you have your team outside of the castle, be sure to switch the Thief back to the third battle slot and save before taking on the Dark Elf. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 4 | | | | Astos | | | | HP: 168 | | EXP: 562 | | GP: 2000 | | | | Party Level: 3 | | | | | | This is another battle that revolves mostly around luck, but lucky for us | | we don't have to walk through a dangerous level to get to it. To win this | | battle we either have to successfully MUTE Astos before he can RUB us or | | hope that his Rub misses and we can kill him before he gets off FIR2. Both | | take some luck to pull off, so you should probably expect it to take a few | | tries before you beat this guy. | | | | Red Mage Group- | | | | For the opening round, have your Fighters and Thief attack while your Red | | Mage attempts to MUTE Astos. If the MUTE succeeds, then the battle is | | pretty much won and you can pummel Astos with your Fighters until he dies. | | If it fails and Astos casts RUB, you'll have to hope that it is | | unsuccessful. If he does not cast RUB, you should try MUTE again if you | | have the charges. If not, cast LIT and hope for the best. | | | | | | Black Mage Group- | | | | Your best hope for winning this battle is some good damage from ICE and | | some critical hits from your Fighters. Beating Astos before he gets RUB off | | is highly unlikely, so you'll have to keep your fingers crossed and hope it | | misses whomever he casts it on. If it misses you usually have 3 or 4 rounds | | to beat him before he casts FIR2, an ample window considering ICE can deal | | up to 40 in damage a pop. As long as your Fighters hit for some decent | | damage, you have a fairly good chance of success if you can dodge RUB. | | | | | | When you beat him, our team will level up to Level 4. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Be sure to save one more time when you exit the castle just in case. Being at Level 4 is good as our Fighters can now score 2 hits with the Silver Sword. o----------------o | ERRAND RUNNING | o================o You can now go about the long and annoying process of getting the Mystic Key and TNT. We also need to take the time to get all of the treasures that were locked with the Mystic Key. Here are the main ones we don't want to miss. Elfland Castle: Silver Hammer, Bronze Gauntlet, 730 GP Coneria Castle: Iron Armor, Iron Shield, Iron Staff, Sabre, Silver Knife Temple of Fiends: Cap, Tent, Heal, Soft, Were Sword, Rune Sword Northwest Castle: Power Staff, Falchion, Steel Gauntlet Marsh Cave: Silver Bracelet, Short Sword Dwarf Cave: Dragon Sword, 575 GP, Tent, Cabin, Silver Armor, Iron Helmet Be sure to avoid the spiked squares guarding the Silver Bracelet in the Marsh Cave or you'll be looking at a reset. Equip the Dragon Sword and Silver Bracelet on your Thief and give the Silver Armor to your Red Mage. If you are playing with a BLack Mage group, you should sell the Silver Armor and buy another Silver Bracelet in Melmolnd to equip on your Black Mage. You're going to love the added defense the Silver Bracelet gives your Thief and Black Mage. Equip the other armor upgrades on the Fighter in the top slot. Sell off any unneeded gear and be sure to pick up 60 Heals, 30 Pures, 5 Softs, and 5 Tents along with FIRE for your Red Mage before heading off to Melmond. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 3 | | ) | :-: | | | | :-: | (____________| | The Rotting Earth | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o-------------------------o | AN EXPERIENCE CONUNDRUM | o=========================o Right at the start of this chapter we are presented with a dilemma. You see, defeating the Vampire is going to leave us 49 painful experience points shy of Level 5. And the difference between fighting Lich at level 4 and level 5 is HUGE, particularly for the Black Mage group. At level 5, the Black Mage will get a charge of level 3 magic, giving your team one shot of FIR2 to toss at Lich that could make the difference in the battle. The extra level will also boost the Fighter and Thief's hit points, making them more likely to survive Lich's ICE2 and reducing the amount of attempts required to beat Lich. The extra experience points will have no effect on the final outcome of the challenge, even if two members die when you fight Lich. However, purists who insist on beating each boss at the lowest level possible may not wish to pursue this path. I, however, STRONGLY recommend it. The rest of this guide is going to assume you take this action. If you would like to see what levels your team would fight the remaining bosses at should you choose to forgo the experience, see section A of the Supplemental Information section. If you choose to take the extra experience, fight a group of 6 Sahags on the sea and 3 Imps on land. This will give you exactly 49 experience points so you don't take on any more extra experience than necessary. o---------o | MELMOND | o=========o When you have your experience situation sorted out, take your ship west through the canal and head to Melmond. We don't need to do anything here except save at the Inn. You could pick up some of the armor upgrades for your Fighters, but it won't make much of a difference. Do be sure to buy an extra Silver Bracelet if you are using the Black Mage grouping and haven't purchased it yet. Make sure you have your Thief in the second slot when heading out to the Earth Cave. The place is practically crawling with undead, so don't be surprised if it takes an attempt or two before you make it to the cave. When you reach the mouth of the Earth Cave be sure to save and use a tent. o--------------------o | EARTH CAVE: PART 1 | o====================o Safe paths in the battle script: B3:10-32, 43-54, 113-123, 129-141, 181-201 This is where the game difficulty really starts to ramp up. It also happens to be where we have to start watching the battle script as our first real unavoidable encounter shows up in B3. B1 and B2, however, are perfectly safe so you should clean out all of the treasures and save before you attempt to get the Ruby from the Vampire. Be sure to avoid all the spiked floors as the battle is always with an Earth, another battle we cannot run from. The treasures in the bottom room of B2 are also off limits as the entrance is guarded by a spiked square. After you've got the treasures you need to figure out where you are in the battle script before coming back and attempting the next level. If you need an easy way to do this, check the Encounter System part of the Getting Started section. There's actually quite of few comfortably large windows that will allow you to get to the Vampire and back without ever seeing the Wizard encounter, so you can take your pick. *** From here on, every level has encounters we need to avoid so keep tabs on your position in the battle script at all times! Obviously the main risks are the large packs of undead and Coctrice groups that start to show up in B3. The only thing you can do is try to keep your HP high and get away as fast as possible. You'll fight anywhere from 6-10 battles including the Vampire, so odds are you'll be able to get through this section without having to reset too many times. When you reach the Vampire be sure to heal up and move your Thief to the third slot in the group. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 5 | | | | Vampire | | | | HP: 156 | | EXP: 300 | | GP: 1200 | | | | Party Level: 4 | | | | | | This battle is not too difficult, which is good as you might have to do it | | more than once. Have your Fighters and Thief attack the Vampire while the | | Red or Black Mage casts FIRE. Your Fighters are capable of dealing decent | | damage to the Vampire, while FIRE ranges anywhere from 15-60. As long as | | the Vampire doesn't target your two weaker characters the battle should be | | won in two or three rounds. | | | | | | If you took the extra experience before coming to the Earth Cave your group | | will now gain another level. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Be sure to heal up after the fight is over and put your Thief back in the second slot. Also, make sure you remember to grab the Ruby before you start the perilous trip back to the exit. This might sound ridiculous, but remember that you could be fighting this battle a few times and it can easily slip your mind. Once you make it back to Floor 2 consider yourself in the clear (for now) and make your way back to the entrance. Once outside, save in a tent. o-------------------------------o | TITAN'S TUNNEL & SARDA'S CAVE | o===============================o After what we just went through, getting the Rod is going to be breeze. Don't forget to loot the treasures from Titan's Tunnel and equip any upgrades you find. Be sure to stop by Melmond and stay at the Inn one more time as we need to recharge our mage's spell charges for the fight with Lich. You should also take this opportunity to go and restock on Heal, Pure, and Soft should you find yourself running low on any of them. A safe supply would be 60/ 30/5 respectively. Those using the Black Mage line-up should also take this time to head back to Elfland to pick up FIR2 for your Black Mage. You should also stay at an inn somewhere to refill your mage's spell charges. When you have everything you need take your team back to the Earth Cave and get ready for one of the most difficult challenges of the low level game. o--------------------o | EARTH CAVE: PART 2 | o====================o Safe paths in the battle script: B3:10-16 B4: 17-24 B3:46-52 B4: 53-61 B3:113-123 B4: 114-139 B3:181-188 B4: 189-193 This is easily one of the most difficult parts of the challenge, second only to the final level. Beating Lich is tough, but beating him with everybody alive is very tough. Like 1/50 tough. If you are a purist (masochist) and demand that all your party members end the game with the same amount of experience, this is going to be quite a painful experience. If you're like me and just want to beat the challenge, the task becomes somewhat easier as we can afford to have up to two party members die. You should note that this is the ONLY time you should allow a party member die in a battle you take experience. Here's a break down of what will happen experience wise to your party depending on how many people die in the Lich battle. If one party member dies... - The three surviving characters gain extra 183 experience and will have 2012 points to spare (includes class change). You can fight four Earths in the Temple of Fiends without going over the experience limit. The Earth battle is unavoidable if you follow the path I have listed in this guide, so assume you are going to be fighting it unless you find your own path. - The one dead member will end with 7800 exp but should gain the final level with the Earth battle to pull even with the rest of the party. If two party members die... - The two surviving characters gain an extra 550 exp and will have 1645 points to spare (includes class change). Can fight four Earths safely. - The two dead characters will end with 7800 experience but should gain the last level with Earth battle to pull even with the other two. If three party members die... - The surviving member gains all 2200 exp, which makes the class change impossible. If you forgo the class change you will have 576 to spare, but the Earth battle is impossible as minimum experience gained is 768 and the fewest amount of Earths you will fight is two. In other words, you have to reset or find your own path through the final level that hits no inescapable encounters. If four party members die... - Just kidding. You're dead. You should be aware that having a character or two die will skew the experience for those characters, meaning that the numbers listed in this FAQ will no longer apply. I would go through and recalculate all the different possible outcomes, but I'm lazy and there really isn't a need to. In the end, you're party will still end up at level 9, just with different amounts of experience. If you follow my guide, you are going to run into an Earth battle in the final level which is why having three members die is not an option. If you think you can get through the final level without the encounter, you are free to study the battle script and try to find a path that will allow you to miss all the unavoidable encounters. Just understand that it is no easy task. Getting to Lich shouldn't be too much trouble as long as you follow the battle paths as they are listed. The undead and packs of Coctrices can be dangerous, but you should be able to make it to Lich more often than not. Before you engage Lich, be sure you are healed to the max, even if it means burning a heal potion for 2 HP! We want to give ourselves the best possible chance for success in this battle. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 6 | | | | Lich | | | | HP: 400 | | EXP: 550 | | GP: 2000 | | | | Party Level: 5 | | | | | | This is our first extremely difficult battle, and it's a doozy. Most of the | | time Lich will open up his attack by casting ICE2, which will usually kill | | at least one member of our party. Should this happen, you'll have to decide | | if you're okay with a party member dying. It will skew the overall | | experience for that character, but you can still complete the challenge. If | | three characters die, however, you'll have to restart. I recommend trying | | to at least finish the fight and then decide whether or not you want to try | | and give it another go. Beating Lich with one or two party members dead is | | much easier and will probably prevent you from giving up on the challenge. | | | | | | That being said, this is still a tough battle to win. Lich will follow up | | ICE2 with SLP2, FAST, and then LIT2. You'll have to hope you can beat him | | before he gets to that last one, as the odds of two people surviving past | | that point are pretty low. | | | | | | Your best chance is an all out attack from your Fighters and Red/Black Mage | | while your Thief administers healing. ICE2 will usually kill your mage, so | | use the best magic you have right from the start. If you are at level 5, | | your Black Mage should have a charge of FIR2 to throw at Lich so if you are | | lucky that can score you over 150 damage. Red Mages should cast FIRE the | | entire time while the Fighters hack away and hope for critical hits. | | Thieves can add their own attacks if you feel you can do without the | | healing. | | | | | | Every now and then you might get lucky and Lich will never use ICE2 or all | | your team will somehow survive the spell. The odds of this happening are | | pretty low, however, so expect to loose a team member or two. More than | | likely, it will take you at least ten tries to beat this guy with two or | | more people alive. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Once you finally down Lich, step back from the game for a minute and collect yourself as making a stupid mistake right now is something you absolutely CANNOT afford to have happen. Put your Thief back into the second slot if he is still alive and be sure to heal everybody's HP to max. The last thing we need is to get wiped out on the last few steps before we get to the crystal. Should that happen, you will probably never summon the will power to complete this part of the game again. Once you get out of the cave, immediately save before taking any steps. You can then breathe a sigh of relief as you have conquered one of the hardest parts of this challenge. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 4 | | ) | %-% | | | | %-% | (____________| | The Great Ordeal | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o---------------o | CRESCENT LAKE | o===============o Take your team to Melmond and save if you wish. Then board your ship and sail West across the ocean until you reach the port leading to Crescent Lake. You probably want to use a tent here, as the enemies in this area are fairly strong and can drop your Thief in a few hits. When you get to Crescent Lake, talk to the wise man to claim your Canoe. You can also take this opportunity to buy a Buckler for your Thief and Red Mage if you wish to. It will set you back 5,000 GP, but the extra defense could come in handy in the next level. Be sure to stock back up on Heals and Pures if the Earth Cave used up too many of your potions. You might also consider making a stop in Elfland to stock up on Softs as you'll probably need a few in the next level. When you are ready take your ship and sail south west until you reach the river that runs next to the Castle of Ordeals. Talk to the man inside before coming back out and saving your game. This prevents you from having to talk to him every single time you restart. o-------------------o | CASTLE OF ORDEALS | o===================o Safe paths in the battle script: F2:18-24 F3: X F2:95-101 F3: X F2:39-47 F4: X F2:177-182 F3: 183-196 F2:53-59 F4: X * The X means you shouldn't need to worry about that floor as long as you don't fight 20 battles or more. The good thing about this level is that it's fairly short, meaning you'll only have to survive 6-8 encounters plus the final fight. There's also quite a few windows for us to choose from in the battle script to avoid the Zombulls and Zombie Dragons. The bad news is that just about every enemy we will encounter has the potential to put a stop to our game. Let's take a quick look at what baddies we really don't want to see. Sorcerers: These guys have instant kill attacks that are resets just waiting to happen. Mancats: They come in large groups and like to open with FIR2. Not a good thing for our low level team. Red Gargoyles: Like Mancats, they spam FIR2. Uh oh. You may have noticed that I just listed pretty much every monster we will see in this level. The truth is that you are just going to have to get lucky and hope your Thief gets a turn in quickly. The undead enemies and Medusas aren't quite as dangerous, though they can still put an end to your game. All you can do is move through the level and hope for the best. You'll want to collect every treasure you can down here as it's all valuable. The Heal Staff should be given to your Red/Black Mage and used in every battle from here on out. You should give the Zeus Gauntlet and the Gold Bracelet to your Thief, who can finally take a break from being a human punching bag. You should avoid searching the bottom left treasure in the last room as it is always empty. When you get to the throne where the Zombie Dragon awaits, be sure to put your Thief back in the third slot and heal up. Make sure to grab the Tail now so you don't accidently forget to after the battle. You'll have to hope you only see one Zombie Dragon or you'll have to reset and try again. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 7 | | | | Zombie Dragon | | | | HP: 268 | | EXP: 582 | | GP: 999 | | | | Party Level: 5 | | | | | | This is a battle that you should win unless you get unlucky. Have your | | Fighters attack while your Thief uses the Zeus Gauntlet and your Red Mage | | uses FIRE. If you repeat this process twice you'll probably kill the dragon | | before it can kill anybody. With a Black Mage the process is even easier as | | a shot of FIR2 should half the dragon's hit points right from the start. | | | | | | When you win your party will level up to 6, and your Red Mage will gain a | | charge of Level 3 Magic. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O After making sure you grabbed the Tail you can step on the throne and leave the castle. Save as soon as you get outside. Before heading off to the next challenge, be sure to make a pit-stop in Elfland and pick up FIR2 and CUR2 for our Red Mage as well as 99 Heals, 20 Pures, 10 Soft, and 5 Tents. Sell off any unused equipment and be sure to save your game in an Inn so your mage gets his spell charges refilled. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 5 | | ) | #-# | | | | #-# | (____________| | Getting Airborn & Growing Up | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ Take the ship to the river inlet just above the port to Crescent Lake. You might consider using a tent here as the river enemies can be pretty dangerous. If you need to get your position in the battle script to 42 quickly, the best way to do it is to perform a fresh restart to reset the battle script after saving outside of the Ice Cave. You can either then run from battles outside of the Ice Cave, or you can enter a battle and then do a normal reset and load the game up again. This will push the battle counter to the next point without you even having to run! By repeating this process you can move your position through the battle script fairly quickly. Just understand that this is a rather nasty level and you will probably be repeating this process quite a few times! o----------o | ICE CAVE | o==========o Safe path in the battle script: B1:42-44 B2:45-47 B3:0 B2:48-49 B3:50-51 B1:53-54 B2:0 B3:55-57 B1:58-59 In terms of level difficulty, this is easily the hardest in the game. The boss we face isn't as difficult as some of the others, but the majority of the battles we are going to be fighting will be against the large packs of undead and Coctrices, which are always a toss up. The best strategy you can use is to have your mage use the Zeus Gauntlet and have the third slotted fighter use the Heal Staff if somebody's hit points drop below half. This allows you to reduce some of the monsters and keep your HP somewhat higher if your Thief is stunned and your top Fighter can't get away. Never use the Gauntlet more than twice, however, as you could wind up killing all the enemies and be forced to reset. The main treasures we are after in this cave besides the Floater are the Flame Sword and Ice Shield. It may seem crazy to go after these treasures but you'll need them both later on so consider them part of the challenge. When you get to the Eye you can keep your group order the same; just make sure everybody is healed and you have the Flame Sword equipped with one of your Fighters. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 8 | | | | EYE | | | | HP: 162 | | EXP: 806 | | GP: 3225 | | | | Party Level: 6 | | | | | | This battle is going to hinge on whether or not you can successfully kill | | the EYE before he happens to use XXXX, RUB, or Glance on one of your party | | members. In the opening round, just have your Fighters and Red Mage attack | | while your Thief uses the Zeus Gauntlet. MUTE is always a good option even | | though you will be losing an attack with the Red Mage as a successful MUTE | | will pretty much guarantee a victory for you. You'll probably only need one | | or two rounds to beat this guy, so chances are good that you will. | | | | | | The Black Mage group should use a similiar strategy, with the exception of | | having the Black Mage cast FIR2. It won't make a huge amount of damage, but | | it's better than his wimpy physical attack. For this group, this battle is | | probably fifty-fifty win or lose. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Do NOT forget to grab the Floater and heal up before you fall down the hole and begin the trek back to the exit. You're going to have to deal with the spiked undead square, so make sure everybody's hit points are at max before entering the battle. From here, things improve a little for you. Having somebody die is no longer an instant reset, so hang in there and do your best to make it out. When you do get out immediately save in a tent before attempting to make it back to your ship. o-----------------o | CARDIAN ISLANDS | o=================o Now we can finally get our hands on our airship and really get to work on pumping up our team. However, we need to make a quick stop for our class change before we move on to the next part of the game. Be sure to equip the Zeus Gauntlet with your Red Wizard along with grabbing all the treasures in the Cardian Islands. You'll probably have a sizable stash when everything is said and done, but don't go and spend it all on Pro-Rings just yet. We still have to pull together enough cash to afford the 50,000 GP bottle from the desert caravan. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 6 | | ) | $$$ | | | | $$$ | (____________| | Treasure Hunting | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ Of all the chapters, this is arguably the funnest. There aren't any real tough levels to deal with, and we get to put our hands on some pretty decent loot that will allow our low level party to take on the strongest enemies in the game. Although some might see this level as long and annoying, I actually enjoy the break from tackling tough bosses and flying around the world in search of treasure! The first thing we need to do is restock on Heals, Pures, Softs, and Tents. You should probably have about 99/30/10/10 respectively before attempting any level from here on out. Fly your airship over to the river near Onrac and save in a tent before attempting to make it to the Waterfall. The enemies on the way to the Waterfall are pretty tough, so getting there is not guaranteed by any means. Stay in the river as much as possible as Frost Giants roam this area. Use the Heal Staff with the Wizard and hope you don't get anbushed by a pack of Gators. When you make it to the Waterfall be sure to use another tent to save. o---------------o | THE WATERFALL | o===============o Safe paths in the battle script: Avoid battle #129,197,206,212 This level is not nearly as difficult as the Ice Cave in that the enemies are less dangerous and you don't have to beat any bosses, meaning you can have a party member or two die and still be able to complete the level. The only thing you have to look out for are Gas Dragons, so make sure you don't start this level anywhere in the script that is anywhere near an 8. Upon entering the room with the robot you will be forced to fight a spiked square battle that is always a combination of Mummies, Wizard Mummies, Coctrices, and Perilisks. The only thing you can do here is hope for your Ninja to get a turn in quickly and get you out of there. You should give the Ribbon to your Red/ Black Wizard and the Defense to one of your Knights. Don't forget to grab the Cube from the robot either. After you have what you need leave the Waterfall and save upon reaching the exit. Again, the river enemies pose much more of a threat than anything you saw in the Waterfall so be careful getting back to your Airship. o------o | GAIA | o======o The first thing we need to do is go unload some of the unneeded items we have accumulated, namely the Wizard Staff which sells for a cool 25,000 GP. After that you should have the 50,000 GP necessary for getting the Bottle. If not, you probably haven't been collecting treasures and taking care of your money like you should have. The only thing you can do in that event is to either raid the Gurgu Volcano or play the ship game. I'd opt for the Volcano. Once you have the cash go get the Bottle from the Caravan at the oasis. Then head over to Gaia to pick up the Oxale from the Fairy at the spring. You can also use this opportunity to pick up a Pro-Ring or two if you have enough cash to make the purchase. The characters with the most need for one are your Ninja and top slotted Knight as they recieve the majority of attacks from monsters. Once we have the Oxale we can head back over to Onrac and take our first plunge into the water. o--------------------o | SEA SHRINE: PART 1 | o====================o Safe paths in the battle script: B3:10-11 B2:12-14 B2:15-17 B3:18-32 B3:113 B2:114-116 B2:117-118 B3: 119-123 Without utilizing the encounter manipulation method, this part is very, very tough to get through. If you follow these paths, however, you should be okay. What makes this level tough is the high amount of encounters that we cannot run from, making the window of opportunity pretty small. The good thing is we are only concerned with getting the Slab and the other treasures for the time being and nothing else. None of the enemies we'll meet pose to much of a threat. Large groups of lobsters can be a threat if they hit your weaker characters too many times. Just keep in mind that we aren't fighting any battles so it doesn't matter if somebody dies or not. Be sure to give the Opal Bracelet to the Ninja and give the Gold Bracelet to the Red Wizard. The Opal gear should be given to the Knight in the top slot. When you make it out, save in the Inn and restart the game with a power off or a fresh restart to reset the battle script. Now go back in and grab the Opal Armor from B2 using the same battle path you used to get the Slab. Put the Opal Armor on the top slotted Knight for now and dump the rusty old Iron Armor. Save one more time before heading back to your airship as we wouldn't want to run into a Frost Giant and have to get the armor over again. o--------o | LEFIEN | o========o Go to Melmond to get your Slab translated, then head over to the one landing spot south of Gaia so we can begin our trek to Lefien. Be sure you have at least five tents as there is a high chance we will have to reset somewhere along the way. You could calculate a safe path for this part of the game, but I've found that it's actually quicker just to do it like you normally would and use tents to save along the way. The only business we have in Lefien is getting the Chime as we are about 20 levels short of being able to use Level 8 magic. Be sure to save in a tent upon exiting the town just in case you have to reset. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 7 | | ) | &-& | | | | &-& | (____________| | Threat From Above | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o--------------o | MIRAGE TOWER | o==============o Before we head to the Mirage Tower we need to make a quick stop in Provoka to pick up ALIT for our Red Wizard as well as stock up on Heals. Make sure you have 99 as we'll be needing them for the Sky Castle. When you are ready you can head over the desert and walk over to the Mirage Tower. Be sure you save outside as there are plenty of nasty enemies waiting for us inside. The good thing about this level is that there is only one rare encounter that we cannot run from, so you don't need a save path for this part of the game. Be aware, though, that the Blue Dragon shows up in the 8 slot for the top two floors in this level so you have a slim chance of fighting it if you aren't paying attention to where you are in the script. The first thing we need to do is clean out all of the treasures in the first two floors. Give the Dragon Armor and Aegis Shield to the top slotted Knight to make him a virtual tank. You can also give one of the Knights the Sunblade and give the Ninja the weapon the Knight was using. Thor's Hammer should go to the Red Wizard while the Heal Helmet should be given to the Knight without the Opal Helmet. When you've cleaned out everything, be sure to go back and save outside. You might also consider making a quick trip back to town to restock on Heals as we want a full stash before taking on the Sky Castle. Now that we have raided all the treasures we can go directly to Floor 3 where the Blue Dragon awaits us. Give the Heal Helmet to the Red Mage and the Heal Staff to the Ninja. You should also drop your Ninja back to the third slot as he has less HP than the Knight. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 9 | | | | Blue Dragon | | | | HP: 454 | | EXP: 818 | | GP: 2000 | | | | Party Level: 6 | | | | | | This battle is going to hinge on whether or not we can get ALIT off before | | the Blue Dragon gets a chance to use his nasty Thunder attack. Most of our | | team has some kind of defense against lightning; the only problem is our | | Ninja, who has no real magic defense. If he gets hit with Thunder it's | | highly likely he is going to die, so we need to get him protected ASAP. | | | | | | If you can get ALIT off, the battle is not all that difficult. Start off by | | having your two Knights attack, the Ninja use the Heal Staff. and the Red | | Wizard cast ALIT. In the following round you should have the Knights attack | | while your Red Mage and Ninja use healing in case the Blue Dragon uses | | Thunder. With this strategy you should be able to beat the Blue Dragon in | | three or four rounds. | | | | | | The Black Wizard team is going to have a more difficult time with this | | battle, as it won't have access to ALIT. Your only shot is to cast FIR2 | | with your Black Wizard and attack with your other party members and win | | before the Blue Dragon gets his thunder attack off. Every now and then your | | Ninja will survive thunder, but I put the odds of that at around 1/10. Your | | overall odds of success here are probably around 1/5. | | | | | | When you win your party will go up in level. | | | ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ o------------o | SKY CASTLE | o============o Safe paths in the battle script: F1:22-27 F2:28-35 F1:43-48 F2: 49-59 F1:190-195 F2:196-207 This can be a fairly frustrating level when you take into account that you must clear two battles that are fairly luck based. Throw in the fact that the final floor has both sorcerers and Warmechs running around and you have all the ingredients for a fairly time consuming and difficult task. Expect this level to take you a while. One thing you need to keep in mind when calculating your position in the battle script is the amount of battles it will probably take you to get to the Sky Castle. Leave yourself at least five battles in the Mirage Tower so you don't sell yourself short in the Sky Castle. There really isn't much to worry about in this level in terms of enemies, and the window for opportunity is pretty generous so as long as you pay attention to the battle script you should be able to avoid the Eye and get your loot. Speaking of treasures, there are a number of very important treasures we need to pick up as we go through the level. We need to make sure we grab the Ribbon, White Shirt, Adamant, and Bane Sword. Anything else you grab you do so at your own risk. The Ninja will take the Ribbon and your wizard will take the White Shirt. When you reach Floor 4 you'll want to make sure your Knight without the Dragon Armor has the Ice Shield as Floors 4 and 5 are full of enemies that like to use FIR2 and Cremate. Be sure to keep everybody's HP near max and use both the Heal Helmet and Heal Staff every time in battle to reduce potion use. If you happen to run into a Warmech there is a good chance he'll kill your group before you even get a chance to move. The other group we need to worry about is the dreaded Sorcerer packs. The only thing we can do is run and hope for some luck. Before you fight Tiamat, make sure the Ninja has the Heal Helmet, the Knight without the Bane Sword has the Heal Staff, and the Red/Black Wizard has the White Shirt. You should also move your Ninja into the third battle slot and re-equip the Opal Shield on the Knight without the Dragon Armor. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 10 | | | | Tiamat | | | | HP: 1000 | | EXP: 1374 | | GP: 6000 | | | | Party Level: 7 | | | | | | The goal in this battle is to stay alive long enough to get the Bane Sword | | to hit Tiamat for the instant kill. The odds of the sword working are 14% | | according to AstralEsper, so we'll have to hope we kill Tiamat before she | | kills one of our team members. | | | | | | Every round of this battle should go as follows: the Knight with the Bane | | Sword uses it in hopes of killing Tiamat, the other Knight uses the Heal | | Helmet, the Ninja uses the Heal Staff, and the Red/Black Wizard uses the | | White Shirt. We have to hope that Tiamat resorts to using Thunder or | | attacking our top Knight for low damage in the first few rounds. If you | | manage to get five INV2 off, your team should be relatively safe from | | Tiamat's physical attack. The one thing we don't want to see is Poison, as | | one of our Knights has no real protection for it and will likely die. | | Again, the point is to hold out as long as possible so we get as many tries | | with the Bane Sword as we can. | | | | | | Realistically, you'll probably only get 5 or 6 tries with the Bane Sword | | before Tiamat finally tosses poison out, so expect to fight this guy a few | | times before the cards all fall your way. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O When the battle is won, be sure to heal before making a move toward the crystal altar. The last thing we need right now is get ambushed by a bunch of Red Hydras or something worse than that. When you get outside, save immediately. You should now head over and claim your Xcalber from the Dwarf Cave. Give it to the Knight with the Dragon Armor and give the Defense to your Ninja. Nice. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 8 | | ) | =-= | | | | =-= | (____________| | Some Like It Hot | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ So who's ready for a break? After some of the ridiculously difficult levels we have been going through, you can probably use one. And just as luck would have it, we have a really easy cupcake level coming up. So sit back, relax, and forget that the reset button even exists. It's time to take care of the Gurgu Volcano. Just make sure that you restock on your Heal potions and save at an Inn to fill up your spell charges before taking your airship over to the volcano. You should also save before you head inside, even though there's a good chance you won't even have to. o---------------o | GURGU VOLCANO | o===============o Safe paths in the battle script: F1:21 F2:22 F3:23-24 F4:0 F3:25-26 F4:27-28 F5:29-30 F1:162 F2:163 F3:164-165 F4:0 F3:166-167 F4:168-169 F5:170-172 Most people would think this level would be difficult, as it usually is if you play the game the way you are supposed to. However, our group is now sporting some seriously powerful weapons and armor that will allow you to abuse Kary pretty much any way you want. I should also mention that although there are a few inescapable battles in this level, you're odds of getting through without seeing them is pretty good even if you don't pay attention to the battle script. Before you enter, make sure the Knight without the Aegis Shield is equipped with the Ice Shield to protect him from all the heat attacks. Some people like to stay on the lava to avoid enemy encounters, but I've found that since most of the enemies down here can't really hurt you the best thing to do is to move as normal and use the Heal Helmet and Staff to preserve potions. Make sure you pick up the Flame Armor on the final floor before going to fight Kary. It's guarded by two spiked squares, but you shouldn't have any problems getting away from the Agama and Red Dragon. You can have your Knight without the Dragon Armor take the Flame Armor and discard what he was using. Before you take on Kary, make sure your party's HP is full. You should also keep the Ninja in the second slot for every battle from here on. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 11 | | | | Kary | | | | HP: 600 | | EXP: 618 | | GP: 3000 | | | | Party Level: 7 | | | | | | This battle is by far one of the easiest in the game. With a little luck, | | you can actually win this in 2 rounds. Have your two Knights attack Kary | | while your Ninja uses the Defense to cast Ruse. Your Red/Black Wizard | | should use the White Shirt for the entire battle. | | | | | | Unless Kary gets a hard shot in on your wizard, this is a battle that you | | should win. Your Knight with Xcalber is going to absolutely murder Kary, | | and the Ninja will be completely invulnerable to her physical after two | | castings of Ruse. Kary's magic will be completely useless against your | | group, as will her Dark attack. Expect to win this battle handily. | | | | | | As another added bonus, you will go up in level upon winning this battle. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Well wasn't that refreshing? Hope you had a good time with that level because we're about to be back riding the reset button. ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 9 | | ) | 0-0 | | | | 0-0 | (____________| | Under The Sea... Again | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ o--------------------o | SEA SHRINE: PART 2 | o====================o Safe paths in the battle script: B3:10-12 B4:13-15 B3:0 B2:16 B3:17-26 B4:27-29 B5:30-39 B3:129-131 B4:132-133 B3:134 B2:135-136 B3:137-138 B4:139-141 B5:142-145 Get your team stocked up and head to Onrac for another round with the Sea Shrine. This time is going to be more difficult than before thanks to a nasty little fight with Kraken at the end. The battle path is also fairly complicated so make sure you know exactly where you are in the script at all times. The only other thing to note is that the second "path" requires a little luck as we only have four battles to give on the last level. I would recommend taking the top one. The only other thing to note is that you will be fighting a lot of battles in B3 from 17-26, so make sure you are using your Heal Staff and Helmets or you could find yourself running low on potions. You also need to make sure you pick up the Ribbon in the second to last floor as we will be needing it for the final level. It's going to be tough taking these extra ten or so steps, but realize that beating the final level without it is going to be near impossible. You have three battles to give in B4, so hope that you get a lot of steps in between your battles. Before you fight Kraken, be sure your Knight without Xcalber has Thor's Hammer and that all your party members' HP is at max. You can also give the Zeus Gauntlet to your Ninja if you feel comfortable taking his defense down a few points. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 12 | | | | Kraken | | | | HP: 800 | | EXP: 1061 | | GP: 5000 | | | | Party Level: 8 | | | | | | Our biggest concern is Kraken's physical attack, which can kill everybody | | but our top Knight in a single hit. Open the battle by having your Knight | | with Xcalber attack while the other Knight uses Thor's Hammer. Your Ninja, | | who should be in the second slot, should use the Defense and the wizard | | should use the White Shirt. After two rounds, your Ninja should be safe | | from Kraken's physical attack and can start either healing or adding | | attacks of his own. The Red Wizard should use the White Shirt for the | | entire battle just to be safe. | | | | | | The main danger you face is having Kraken attack either your Ninja or | | wizard before you have a chance to get at least 1 round of defense boost | | in. Even then, you really aren't safe until you get at least 4 INV2 off. | | Hopefully Kraken will attack your top Knight or, better yet, waste a turn | | with his INK attack. You'll win this battle more times than you'll loose, | | but it all depends on what Kraken decides to do in the first two rounds. | | Just cross your fingers and hope for the best. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O Four orbs restored at only level 8. Not bad, huh? ______________ __________________________________________ ______________ \_____________| ____________________________________ |_____________/ \____________| / \ |____________/ ( | | Chapter 10 | | ) | !-! | | | | !-! | (____________| | The Temple of Fiends Revisited | |____________) /____________| \____________________________________/ |____________\ /_____________|__________________________________________|_____________\ This is the final level, and boy is it a mother#$"&@. I could only find one realistic battle path in the entire script, but luckily it happens to start right at 2 so reloading shouldn't be too difficult. There is a sticky part in the Earth floor where we are going to have to take some experience in one battle, two if we are unlucky. The fight with the Phantom is tough, Lich is tougher, and Chaos is the absolute toughest. Get ready, because I put the odds of beating these three battles as well as surviving all the others somewhere around 1/1000. Get used to reseting as you will be doing it ALOT. If you decide this is where you want to throw in the towel, I really don't blame you as you can count on this taking weeks to accomplish, perhaps longer. There is no shame, in my opinion, in stopping here as getting this far is undoubtedly an accomplishment in and of itself. However, I know that if you are like me you won't be satisfied until the final battle is won. Just don't expect it to happen overnight. So if you think you're up for it, grab all the potions you can carry and make sure you get the Lute if you didn't choose to take it earlier. Also, make sure everybody has a Pro-Ring equipped as several enemies in the last level use instant kill attacks. Save in an Inn so you get all your magic charges and then save again outside of the Temple of Fiends. o----------------------------o | TEMPLE OF FIENDS REVISITED | o============================o The safe battle path: F1:2-3 F2:0 F3:4-6 F2:7-8 F1:9-11 Earth:12-14* Fire:15-17 Water:18-24 Air:25 Water:26-27 Air:28-35 Water:36-37 Air:X *You will take a battle of experience here with either 2, 3, or 4 Earths. Assuming you have taken no extra experience except the class change and the 49 extra points before Lich, you have a total of 2,145 points of cushion that you can take before you hit Level 10. We are going to get hit by a battle with a group of Earths in the Earth floor, so hopefully you only see 2 of them. If you run into 4 battles on that floor, you'll see another battle on top of that, so hope you don't hit a lot of battles. Also be aware that if you had party members die in the first Lich fight that you will likely only be able to take one battle of extra experience with the Earths. You should also note that we do a bit of back-tracking when we get to the Air floor. This is to avoid Worms and Sorcerers while waiting for a long enough window to grab the Masamune. Because this level is so large and contains so many boss fights, I'm going to take it section by section from here on. This floor is loaded with enemies we can't run from. Gas Dragons, Frost Giants, Worms, and Zombie Dragons all make their home here, and they all give out tons of experience points. F2 actually has only two battles we can fight, so the window of opportunity is very, very small. Be sure that you are using both the Heal Staff and Heal Helmet with your other party members the whole way through this level in order to conserve Heal potions. When you reach the Phantom, make sure that the Knight with Xcalber also has a Ribbon equipped before you engage in battle. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 13 | | | | Phantom | | | | HP: 360 | | EXP: 1 | | GP: 1 | | | | Party Level: 8 | | | | | | This is a nasty little battle, as the Phantom uses a variety of instant | | kill magic that will usually kill anybody without a Ribbon. Our job is to | | kill this guy before he gets a chance to use ZAP! or Glare on our Knight | | without a Ribbon. Everybody should attack except the wizard, who should | | use FIRE for the sure damage. The Phantom casts STOP, and then follows it | | with ZAP! in his spell cycle. Hopefully you can kill him before | | things get that far. | | | | | | The one good thing about this boss is the experience. If only every boss | | down here was so kind! | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O This is the floor that poses the biggest obstacle besides Chaos himself. Not only is Lich a nasty battle but we also have to make sure we don't go over our limit fighting Earths. You'll definitely be okay for one battle, but if you hit two of them then it's up in the air. As long as you only fight three battles on this floor you'll be okay. The battle with the Earths will more than likely push your team up to level 9, which is the final level you will gain in this challenge. For that battle I recommend you use the Ruse on your Ninja to keep him from getting hammered by the Earths while having your Wizard use the White Shirt to help keep HP lose to a minimum. Your two Knights should be more than enough to handle the Earths. You really don't need to worry about filling up all your HP before fighting Lich as you're either going to beat him before taking any real damage or you are going to die. Sound fun? O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 14 | | | | Lich II | | | | HP: 500 | | EXP: 500 | | GP: 1 | | | | Party Level: 9 (unless you took another path) | | | | | | This battle is pretty simple but tough to win. The first magic spell Lich | | will use is always NUKE, which is always a game over. Our job is to beat | | him before he casts the spell. If you're lucky, you'll get two shots with | | your Knight that has Xcalber to beat him. Have your other Knight and Ninja | | attack and have your wizard use FIR2 in hopes of scoring some decent | | damage. Don't count on Lich holding off on using Nuke for more than two | | rounds, though. I put the overall odds of beating this guy around 1/20. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O If you've managed to make it this far, you're probably starting to get nervous. This level is short, which is good. You should ignore the treasures and head straight for our rematch with Kary. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 15 | | | | Kary II | | | | HP: 700 | | EXP: 500 | | GP: 1 | | | | Party Level: 9 (unless you use a different battle path) | | | | | | Luckily for us, this is a pretty easy battle. The only thing we need to | | worry about is Kary's physical attack as her FIR3 and RUB are pretty much | | harmless. Have your Knights attack while your Ninja uses the Defense and | | your wizard use the White Shirt. Once your Ninja has been protected with | | double Ruse have him begin to heal with the Heal Staff. Unless you get | | unlucky, this battle should be over in four or five rounds. | | | O=============================================================================O This is a rather long and annoying level, but nothing besides Kraken poses any real threat. Just make sure everybody but the Ninja is healing as you are probably starting to feel the pinch on your potions, and there is still quite a ways to go. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 16 | | | | Kraken II | | | | HP: 900 | | EXP: 500 | | GP: 1 | | | | Party Level: 9 | | | | | | This fight is tougher than the one before as Kraken is more powerful and | | has more HP. We'll be using the same strategy as last time and hope he | | decides to lay off the physical attacks for a round or 2. Thor's Hammer is | | not as effective this time around as Kraken has a higher magic defense than | | before. Expect this battle to last 8 to 10 rounds. | | | | | | One good thing about this Kraken is that he now casts LIT2, which you | | should consider a free round should he choose to use it. Once your Ninja is | | protected with triple Ruse he should go to Heal Helmet duty to keep the | | LIT2 from wearing down your party. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O This is where you need to pay real close attention to the battle path and where your current position on the script is. You'll be doing a little bit of bouncing back and forth between the Air and Water stages and the battles need to be fought exactly as they are written to avoid the unavoidable encounters in both floors. You should make sure you fight all your battles right next to the staircase just so you don't do something extremely stupid and accidently step on Kraken. This author knows all about that... Badmen can be dangerous in large groups, as can Airs so keep your HP topped off at all times. You can give the Masamune to the Knight in the third slot. If you think you can grab the Masamune and get through Tiamat to the final floor in the 28-35 window feel free to do so. Just remember that you have a long way to go and an awful lot to lose if you hit the Worms in battle 36. If you have any doubts, backtrack to the water level and fight 36 and 37 before coming back to the Air floor and taking on Tiamat. O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 17 | | | | Tiamat II | | | | HP: 1100 | | EXP: 500 | | GP: 1 | | | | Party Level: 9 | | | | | | Suprisingly, this battle isn't too terribly difficult. Tiamat tends to cast | | a lot of elemental magic, all of which we can counter. Her Poison attack is | | no longer dangerous as we now have enough Ribbons to cover our team. Even | | her physical attack is nowhere near as dangerous as Kraken's, so as long as | | you take some early precautions your chances of success are pretty high. | | | | | | Attack with your two Knights and Ruse with your Ninja. Have your wizard use | | the White Shirt for the entire fight. When your Ninja is covered with | | double Ruse, he should start healing. If Tiamat begins to wear you down | | with elemental magic, have your wizard abandon the White Shirt and use the | | Heal Helmet. If somebody get's dangerously low on HP (below 80), a Red | | Wizard should use CUR2 if you still have a spell charge left. If not, stick | | with Heal and hope for the best. | | | | | | Your two Knights will absolutely murder this guy, so the battle should be | | over in 5 rounds. Just play it safe as you've come too far to loose to this | | thing now. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O This is it. You can take pride if you've made it this far as getting here takes quite a bit of knowledge and expertise. Now it's time to take on the big guy. There aren't any random encounters in this floor, so we can relax and get our strategy together for the final fight. You'll want your Ninja in the top slot for this battle as we need him to try and draw as many physical attacks as possible. Also make sure both Knights are equipped with Ribbons so they don't fall to Chaos's Crack spell. The Heal Helmet should be equipped with the Ninja and the Heal Staff should go to the Red or Black Wizard depending on which party you are using. Since Chaos gives no experience we don't have to worry about beating him with everybody. We just have to somehow beat him! O^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^O | Battle 18 | | | | Chaos | | | | HP: 2000 | | EXP: 0 | | GP: 0 | | | | Party Level: 9 | | | | | | The only reason why Chaos isn't tougher than Lich is because he doesn't | | cast NUKE until late into his spell cycle. The reason why he's tougher than | | every other boss is because he casts CUR4 somewhere in the middle. Our task | | is to beat him either before he casts CUR4 or before he casts NUKE. Those | | are the only two chances you have, so you'll have to hope for some good | | hits and good luck. | | | | | | Here are some of the attacks we want to see from Chaos. | | | | | | Physical Attack: This is the best attack you can hope for, especially after | | your party is protected with Ruse and INV2. Consider each | | of these attacks a gift. | | | | CRACK: Not good news for our Ninja, who does not have a Ribbon to | | guard against this attack. For everyone else, including | | our Knights, this will be a free round. Hope Chaos uses | | this. | | | | FIR3/ICE3/LIT3: These attacks aren't nearly as dangerous as Chaos's other | | spells. Just bear in mind that it signals progression | | through his spell cycle. | | | | Inferno: A slightly stronger version of FIR3 that will put anywhere | | from 70-80 damage on your party. | | | | | | On the other hand, here are some attacks we don't want to see. | | | | | | NUKE: You see this and it's game over. Happens toward the end of | | Chaos's spell cycle, so you'll see it coming. | | | | CUR4: Really annoying when this spell comes after you've already | | dealt him 1,000 damage. | | | | Swirl: A weird elemental spell that has a really high damage | | range of 70-250. Not something we want to see. | | | | Tornado Just like Swirl with a high damage range. Watch out. | | | | SLO2: Just hope he casts this on either your Red Wizard or Ninja.| | If he hits either of your Knights, your chances of beating | | him before he gets NUKE off fall sharply. | | | | FAST: Not really all that dangerous, but it means NUKE is next. | | Uh oh. | | | | | | Chaos's spell progression goes like this: ICE3, LIT3, FIR3, SLO2, CUR4, | | ICE2, FAST, and NUKE. It really doesn't matter what comes after NUKE as the | | battle will be pretty much over once Chaos uses it. This means we have two | | windows in which we can kill him, but our best chance is trying to down him | | before he uses CUR4. At worst you'll get 4 attacks with the Masamune and | | another 4 with the Xcalber. If you get lucky and Chaos chooses to attack | | physically or use elemental spells like CRACK or INFERNO you get another | | two attacks. Chances are you'll need about 12-16 attacks to beat him, or | | 7-8 rounds, so you need him to do something besides use magic at least 3 or | | 4 times and get some really good hits off. It's possible, but you need to | | be VERY lucky. A Black Wizard grouping will be getting essentially an extra | | attack per round, so the odds are a much better for this team. | | | | | | Both Knights should attack every round no matter what. You have no chance | | of beating Chaos unless you attack every time, so these guys should stick | | to attacking no matter how dire things get. Have the Ninja use RUSE twice | | to open the battle, then fall back to Healing. The Red Wizard should use | | the White Shirt 4 times and then fall back to using the Heal Helmet. If you | | are using a Black Wizard start off by having him use FAST on the Knight | | with the Masamune while the Ninja uses the Heal Helmet. After that have the | | Ninja either Heal or use the Bane Sword if you really want to roll the dice | | while the Black Wizard uses the White Shirt.* Once you have used the White | | Shirt 4 times fall back to Healing. | | | | | | Once you are protected from Chaos's physical attacks, you need to hope that | | he chooses to attack physically. Lots. Your Knights are capable of | | inflicting anywhere from 100-300 in damage if they get critical hits, so | | you're going to need at least 7 rounds to get the job done. CRACK is | | probably the best thing you can hope for as nobody will take damage that | | round except for your Ninja, who may bite the dust. Anything is better than | | seeing a progression in the spell cycle, so be grateful for anything you | | get! | | | | | | Good luck! | | | | | | | | * There is a 1/256 chance that the Bane sword will kill Chaos, so if you | | really need a miracle, consider going with the one shot wonder! | | | | | | ** There is also a 1/256 chance that MUTE will succeed, which, even though | | not an instant victory, would prevent him from casting NUKE and CUR4. | | | O-----------------------------------------------------------------------------O After reworking this guide and using the encounter manipulation method I was able to finally beat Chaos at level 9, though I must say it seemed like a major miracle. I put the odds of beating this guy and Lich II somewhere around 1/500, maybe even worse. Trying the Bane Sword once or twice each time you fight him with the Ninja might be a good idea as it gives you a chance on any given round of winning the battle. Since there is no way to substantively prove you have actually completed this challenge, you will have to be content with the personal satisfaction that completing such a massive challenge brings. Consider yourself a gaming god if you can somehow summon the will to get through the low level game! _____ + { ___ } + | | | | __ + + | | * * + | | * * __ | | * * + * * /\___|===|__*/\* + * * ( ) + * * -----_____-----* * * ___ ___ __ __* * + |\ /| * * * * * * * * ****\ * * | | | * * * a * * a * * * * _ * + | | | * n * * ----* * ----* * == * * / \ * | | | * * * * * *___ * *___ * * * * * \_/ * + | | | * * * * * * * * * * * * * * | | | *__* *__* *_____* *_____* *__* *__* *___n_* | | | | | | + /^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ /^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~^^~~^~~~~~ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ =============================================================================== =============================================================================== IV. Supplemental Information I compiled this information mainly because I got tired of having to hunt down the facts I needed from all the other guides out there. Some info was nowhere to be had at all, so I ended up having to get the info straight from the game myself. Thanks goes out to all the FAQ authors who compiled this information. See the credits at the beginning of the guide for individual names. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |)[[[[[[[[ | { a. Experience / Level Appendix } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| The first thing I asked myself when starting this challenge was how much experience it took to reach each level in Final Fantasy. To my dismay, this information was nowhere to be had* (at least I couldn't find it anywhere). So I fired up a quick game and recorded the experience requirements for each level up to 10, as those are the only relevant levels for this challenge. * All levels and experience required to reach them can be found in Patbuns17's Character Lists guide. At the time I wrote this, however, I did not know that this info was in that guide. In this sections I've also included a breakdown of what level you fight each boss depending on certain choices you make such as whether or not you take the class change and whether or not you gain extra experience points before fighting Lich. This information will help give you an idea of what to expect should you depart from my strategy and try a different approach to this challenge. LEVEL EXPERIENCE REQUIRED 1 0 2 40 3 196 4 547 5 1,171 6 2,146 7 3,550 8 5,461 9 7,957 10 11,116 The following is a list for 3 different boss paths that are possible when using my strategy. PATH 1 assumes you take no extra experience whatsover. PATH 2 assumes you take the class change and only the class change. PATH 3 assumes you take both the class change and extra experience before facing Lich. If you take any other unnecessary experience these tables may no longer apply so be sure to keep track of how much experience you take. LVL PATH 1 PATH 1 PATH 3 1 Garland, Pirates Garland, Pirates Garland, Pirates 2 Wizards Wizards Wizards 3 Astos Astos Astos 4 Vampire, Lich Vampire, Lich Vampire 5 Eye Zombie Dragon Lich, Zombie Dragon 6 Blue Dragon, Tiamat Eye, Blue Dragon Eye, Blue Dragon 7 Kary, Kraken Tiamat, Kary Tiamat, Kary 8 Lich II, Kary II, Kraken, Lich II Kraken, Lich II Kraken II, Tiamat II Kary II, Kraken II Kary II 9 Chaos Tiamat II, Chaos Kraken II, Tiamat II, Chaos /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |)[[[[[[[) | { b. Boss / Enemy Index } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| One of the most important things you need to know to complete this challege is knowing what enemy encounters you can run from and which ones you can't. I've compiled a list of all the monsters you could ever possibly have to fight in the low level challenge, arranged alphabetically. I did not include the actual encounters themselves, however. If you want that info you need to check out the next section of the guide. It has also been pointed out to me by various people that status attacks such as MUTE are not technically weaknesses from a coding perspective. Still, they represent a vulnerability that can be taken advantage of, so I kept them as they were;) *All experience figures listed here have already been divided by four. ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Astos > HP: 168 EXP: 562 GP: 2000 Weakness: MUTE Location(s): Northwest Castle ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Blue Dragon > HP: 454 EXP: 818 GP: 2000 Weakness: Ice Location(s): Mirage Tower ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Chaos > HP: 2000 EXP: 0 GP: 0 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Earth > HP: 288 EXP: 384 GP: 768 Weakness: Fire Location(s): Earth Cave, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Eye > HP: 162 EXP: 806 GP: 3225 Weakness: MUTE Location(s): Ice Cave, Sky Castle ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Fire > HP: 276 EXP: 405 GP: 800 Weakness: Ice Location(s): Gurgu Volcano, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Frost Giant > HP: 336 EXP: 438 GP: 1752 Weakness: Fire Location(s): Ice Cave, Onrac Area, Lefien Area, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Frost Wolf > HP: 93 EXP: 101 GP: 200 Weakness: Fire Location(s): Ice Cave, Onrac Area, Lefien Area, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Garland > HP: 106 EXP: 32 GP: 250 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Gas Dragon > HP: 352 EXP: 1017 GP: 5000 Weakness: Ice Location(s): Waterfall, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Ghost > HP: 180 EXP: 247 GP: 990 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Sea Shrine ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < IronGol > HP: 304 EXP: 1679 GP: 3000 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends Revisited ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Kary > HP: 600 EXP: 618 GP: 3000 Weakness: SLEP Location(s): Gurgu Volcano ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Kary II > HP: 700 EXP: 500 GP: 1 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Kraken > HP: 800 EXP: 1061 GP: 5000 Weakness: Lightning Location(s): Sea Shrine ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Kraken II > HP: 900 EXP: 500 GP: 1 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Lich > HP: 400 EXP: 550 GP: 3000 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Earth Cave ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Lich II > HP: 500 EXP: 500 GP: 1 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Phantom > HP: 360 EXP: 1 GP: 1 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Pirate > HP: 6 EXP: 10 GP: 40 Weakness: SLEP Location(s): Provoka ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Tiamat > HP: 1000 EXP: 1374 GP: 6000 Weakness: BANE Location(s): Sky Castle ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Tiamat II > HP: 1100 EXP: 500 GP: 1 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Vampire > HP: 156 EXP: 300 GP: 1200 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Earth Cave, Mirage Tower, Sky Castle ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Water > HP: 300 EXP: 490 GP: 800 Weakness: Ice Location(s): Sea Shrine, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Wizard > HP: 84 EXP: 69 GP: 300 Weakness: Lightning Location(s): Marsh Cave, Earth Cave, Ice Cave ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Wizard Sahag > HP: 204 EXP: 220 GP: 882 Weakness: Lightning Location(s): Sea Shrine, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Worm > HP: 448 EXP: 1086 GP: 1000 Weakness: None Location(s): Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Zombull > HP: 224 EXP: 262 GP: 1050 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Castle of Ordeals, Lefien Area ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* < Zombie Dragon > HP: 268 EXP: 582 GP: 999 Weakness: Fire, Harm Location(s): Castle of Ordeals, Temple of Fiends ******************************************************************************* ******************************************************************************* /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |))[[[[[)) | { c. Battle Slot / Enemy Groupings } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| The following is an index I compiled using Patbuns17's Character List guide for the battle slot (1-8) / enemy groupings for each level where you have to avoid certain encounters. Using this index, not only can you tell which battles to avoid but also where you are in the battle script as you play through the level. You can even tell approximately what battles you will fight and when, allowing you to make adjustments in strategy if the enemy grouping calls for it. You'll need to know your exact location on the battle script to use this data. The number/letter label next to the grouping refers to the label the game uses to refer to the battle in its code. I've also thrown in the battle script at the very end so you don't have to scroll all the up to the top of the guide when looking up a grouping. All enemy groupings marked with a ** denotes a grouping you cannot run from. EARTH CAVE B1 B2 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <15a> COBRA X2-6 1: ASP x3-7 2: <15a> COBRA X2-6 2: <64a> BULL x1-2 3: <64a> BULL X1-2 3: <10b> GARGOYLE x3-8 4: ASP x3-7 4: <13b> GrOGRE x1-4 OGRE x0-2 5: <13b> GrOGRE x1-4 OGRE x0-2 5: <11b> WrWOLF x2-5 GrWOLF x0-5 6: <10b> GARGOYLE x3-8 6: <14b> ARACHNID x4-8 7: <66b> ARACHNID x3-6 SPIDER x0-2 7: <1Ba> TROLL x1-2 BULL x0-1 8: <1Da> MUMMY x2-5 8: <1Ea> Giant x1-2 B3 B4 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <11b> WrWOLF x2-5 1: <1Ca> WIZARD x2-4 ** GrWOLF x0-5 2: SPECTER x2-5 2: <13b> GrOGRE x1-4 GEIST x2-5 OGRE x0-2 3: <18a> IMAGE x2-6 3: <1Ca> WIZARD x2-4 ** 4: <63a> TROLL x1-2 4: SPECTER x2-5 GEIST x2-5 5: <16a> COCTRICE x2-6 5: <18a> IMAGE x2-6 6: GrIMP x0-5 WrWOLF x1-3 6: <16a> COCTRICE x2-6 GIANT x0-2 7: <1Da> MUMMY x2-5 7: GrIMP x0-5 WrWOLF x1-3 8: <12b> OOZE x2-5 GIANT x0-2 ARACHNID x0-5 8: <12b> OOZE x2-5 ARACHNID x0-5 B5 ------------------------ 1: <63a> TROLL x1-2 2: <18a> IMAGE x2-6 3: <14b> ARACHNID x4-8 4: <1Ba> TROLL x1-2 BULL X0-1 5: <1Ea> GIANT x1-2 6: <1Da> MUMMY x2-5 7: <12b> OOZE x2-5 ARACHNID x0-5 8: <21a> EARTH X1-1 ** CASTLE OF ORDEALS 2F 3F ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <32a> ZOMBULL x1-3 ** 1: <6Ab> R.GOYLE x3-7 2: <32a> ZOMBULL x1-3 ** 2: <34a> MEDUSA x2-5 3: <6Ab> R.GOYLE x3-7 3: <33a> MANCAT x3-5 4: <34a> MEDUSA x2-5 4: <1Db> MUMMY x3-7 WzMUMMY x1-1 5: <33a> MANCAT x3-5 5: <1Db> MUMMY x3-7 6: <1Db> MUMMY x3-7 WzMUMMY x1-1 WzMUMMY x1-1 6: <35a> SORCERER x2-5 7: <35a> SORCERER x2-5 7: <35a> SORCERER x2-5 8: <4Ba> ZombieD x1-2 ** 8: <4Ba> ZombieD x1-2 ** ICE CAVE B1 B2 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <1Cb> WIZARD x3-7 ** 1: <18b> IMAGE x2-6 WRAITH x0-4 2: <1Cb> WIZARD x3-7 ** 2: <18b> IMAGE x2-6 3: <16b> COCTRICE x2-6 WRAITH x0-4 MUMMY x2-5 3: <6Ca> SORCERER x1-3 4: <16b> COCTRICE x2-6 MUMMY x2-5 4: <2Cb> WRAITH x2-6 5: <2Bb> R BONE x3-6 5: <2Fa> MAGE x1-4 6: <2Cb> WRAITH x2-6 6: <2Ca> WRAITH x1-5 IMAGE x0-3 7: <2Cb> WRAITH x2-6 SPECTER x0-3 GEIST x0-3 8: <30a> FrostD x1-2 7: <2Ea> FrGIANT x1-1 ** FrWOLF x0-2 8: <30a> FrostD x1-2 B3 ------------------------ 1: <2Bb> R BONE x3-6 2: <2Fa> MAGE x1-4 3: <2Cb> WRAITH x2-6 4: <6Ca> SORCERER x1-3 5: <2Ea> FrGIANT x1-1 ** FrWOLF x0-2 6: <31a> GrPEDE x1-1 7: <30a> FrostD x1-2 8: <2Da> FrWOLF x3-7 WATERFALL ------------------------ 1: <4Fa> NITEMARE x1-3 2: <3Fa> MudGOL x1-3 3: <4Fa> NITEMARE x1-3 4: <3Fa> MudGOL x1-3 5: <4Ab> WzMUMMY x1-2 MUMMY x1-6 6: <4Ab> WzMUMMY x1-2 MUMMY x1-6 7: <23b> PERILISK x4-8 8: <59a> Gas D x1-1 ** SEA SHRINE B1* B2 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <43a> LOBSTER x2-6 1: <5Aa> GrSHARK x1-2 SHARK x0-1 2: <43a> LOBSTER x2-6 2: <72a> SeaSNAKE x2-4 3: <72a> SeaSNAKE x2-4 3: <7Eb> WzSAHAG x1-2 ** 4: <42a> SeaTROLL x1-2 R.SAHAG x7-8 LOBSTER x1-3 4: <46b> GHOST x2-5 ** 5: <47a> NAGA x1-1 ** WATER x0-1 5: <5Ab> GrSHARK x1-2 SHARK x0-1 6: <58a> RockGOL x1-2 6: <48a> GrSHARK x1-1 7: <58a> RockGOL x1-2 BigEYE x0-1 8: <45a> WzSAHAG x0-1 7: <49a> WATER x1-3 ** GrSHARK x1-2 8: <61a> SeaTROLL x1-2 * You don't actually fight on this SeaSNAKE x0-2 floor, but the game has slots set LOBSTER x0-2 for it. B3 B4 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <42a> SeaTROLL x1-2 1: <61b> SeaTROLL x1-1 LOBSTER x1-3 SeaSNAKE x0-3 2: <72a> SeaSNAKE x2-4 2: <44b> LOBSTER x1-5 SeaSNAKE x0-3 3: <47a> NAGA x1-1 ** WATER x0-1 3: <7Eb> WzSAHAG x1-2 ** R.SAHAG x7-8 4: <5Aa> GrSHARK x1-2 SHARK x0-1 4: <46b> GHOST x2-5 ** 5: <5Ab> GrSHARK x1-2 5: <42b> SeaTROLL x1-2 SHARK x0-1 LOBSTER x1-4 6: <7Eb> WzSAHAG x1-2 ** 6: <48a> GrSHARK x1-1 R.SAHAG x7-8 BigEYE x0-1 7: <45a> WzSAHAG x0-1 7: <43b> LOBSTER x3-7 GrSHARK x1-2 8: <72b> SeaSNAKE x3-6 8: <61a> SeaTROLL x1-2 SeaSNAKE x0-2 LOBSTER x0-2 B5 ------------------------ 1: <44b> LOBSTER x1-5 SeaSNAKE x0-3 2: <61b> SeaTROLL x1-1 SeaSNAKE x0-3 3: <48a> GrSHARK x1-1 BigEYE x0-1 4: <42b> SeaTROLL x1-2 LOBSTER x1-4 5: <49b> WATER x3-6 ** 6: <43b> LOBSTER x3-7 7: <43b> LOBSTER x3-7 8: <72b> SeaSNAKE x3-6 MIRAGE TOWER 1F 2F ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <4Fb> NITEMARE x1-2 1: <3Ba> CHIMERA x1-3 BADMAN x1-2 2: <6Db> CEREBUS x3-4 2: <4Fb> NITEMARE x1-2 BADMAN x1-2 3: <4Ca> GUARD x2-5 3: <68a> VAMPIRE x2-5 4: <68a> VAMPIRE x2-5 4: <3Ba> CHIMERA x1-3 5: <4Aa> WzMUMMY x1-5 MUMMY x0-8 5: <4Ca> GUARD x2-5 COCTRICE x0-8 PERILISK x0-8 6: <34b> MEDUSA x3-6 SABER T x1-2 6: <67b> CATMAN x4-7 7: <67b> CATMAN x4-7 7: <39b> CATMAN x3-6 SABER T x1-2 8: <39b> CATMAN x3-6 SABER T x1-2 8: <4Ea> Blue D x1-1 ** 3F ------------------------ 1: <6Db> CEREBUS x3-4 2: <68a> VAMPIRE x2-5 3: <67b> CATMAN x4-7 4: <4Aa> WzMUMMY x1-5 MUMMY x0-8 COCTRICE x0-8 PERILISK x0-8 5: <34b> MEDUSA x3-6 SABER T x1-2 6: <3Eb> WYVERN x1-3 WYRM x0-5 7: <3Eb> WYVERN x1-3 WYRM x0-5 8: <4Ea> Blue D x1-1 ** SKY CASTLE 1F 2F ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <4Da> BADMAN x2-5 1: <52a> GrNAGA x1-1 2: <52a> GrNAGA x1-1 2: <69a> EYE x1-1 ** 3: <69a> EYE x1-1 ** 3: <36b> MANTICOR x3-4 4: <4Da> BADMAN x2-5 4: <55b> CHIMERA x1-1 5: <54a> EVILMAN x1-1 5: <54a> EVILMAN x1-1 NITEMARE x1-2 NITEMARE x1-2 6: <36b> MANTICOR x3-4 6: <40a> GrMEDUSA x1-4 7: <40a> GrMEDUSA x1-4 7: <58b> RockGOL x2-4 8: <50a> SLIME x3-6 8: <50a> SLIME x3-6 3F 4F ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <4Cb> GUARD x0-1 1: <33b> MANCAT x3-7 SENTRY x1-1 MEDUSA x0-5 2: <33b> MANCAT x3-7 2: <4Cb> GUARD x0-1 MEDUSA x0-5 SENTRY x1-1 3: <55b> CHIMERA x1-1 3: <41b> NAOCHO x1-2 4: <36b> MANTICOR x3-4 4: <51a> AIR x2-4 5: <24b> R.HYDRA x4-4 5: <35b> SORCERER x1-6 MudGOL x1-2 6: <58b> RockGOL x2-4 6: <53a> WzVAMP x1-3 7: <53a> WzVAMP x1-3 7: <52b> GrNAGA x1-1 8: <56b> FIGHTER x1-2 8: <56b> FIGHTER x1-2 5F ------------------------ 1: <41b> NAOCHO x1-2 2: <51a> AIR x2-4 3: <35b> SORCERER x1-6 MudGOL x1-2 4: <24b> R.HYDRA x4-4 5: <52b> GrNAGA x1-1 6: <50a> SLIME x3-6 7: <56a> WARMECH x1-1 8: <56b> FIGHTER x1-2 GURGU VOLCANO B1 B2 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <6Fa> SPHINX x1-2 1: <6Aa> R.GOYLE x2-5 2: <6Fa> SPHINX x1-2 2: <6Ea> WzOGRE x1-1 GrOGRE x1-1 3: <6Aa> R.GOYLE x2-5 HYENA x0-7 4: <6Ea> WzOGRE x1-1 3: <6Da> CEREBUS x1-2 GrOGRE x1-1 HYENA x0-7 4: <17b> PEDE x1-4 5: <17b> PEDE x1-4 5: <23a> PERILISK x2-5 6: <1Ab> SCORPION x2-6 6: <24a> R.HYDRA x1-1 BULL x1-2 7: <6Bb> MUCK x4-7 7: <1Ab> SCORPION x2-6 BULL x1-2 8: <27a> FIRE x1-2 ** 8: <6Bb> MUCK x4-7 B3 B4 ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <1Fa> GIANT X1-2 1: <6Da> CEREBUS x1-2 IGUANA x0-3 2: <24a> R.HYDRA x1-1 2: <6Ea> WzOGRE x1-1 GrOGRE x1-1 3: <28a> Grey W x1-1 HYENA x0-7 4: <64b> BULL x2-4 3: <6Da> CEREBUS x1-2 5: <26a> R.GIANT x1-2 4: <24a> R.HYDRA x1-1 6: <6Eb> WzOGRE x1-3 5: <23a> PERILISK x2-5 GrOGRE x0-2 6: <22a> CEREBUS x0-1 ** 7: <29a> AGAMA x1-1 WzOGRE x1-2 8: <27a> FIRE x1-2 ** 7: <6Eb> WzOGRE x1-3 GrOGRE x0-2 8: <27a> FIRE x1-2 ** B5 ------------------------ 1: <28a> Grey W x1-1 2: <64b> BULL x2-4 3: <6Eb> WzOGRE x1-3 GrOGRE x0-2 4: <26a> R.GIANT x1-2 5: <22a> CEREBUS x0-1 ** WzOGRE x1-2 6: <27a> FIRE x1-2 ** 7: <29a> AGAMA x1-1 8: <2Aa> Red D x1-1 TEMPLE OF FIENDS REVISITED 1F 2F ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <57a> WORM x1-2 ** 1: <4Bb> ZombieD x2-4 ** 2: <57a> WORM x1-2 ** 2: <4Bb> ZombieD x2-4 ** 3: <30b> FrostD x3-4 3: <2Eb> FrGIANT x2-2 ** FrWOLF x2-6 4: <30b> FrostD x3-4 4: <2Eb> FrGIANT x2-2 ** 5: <30b> FrostD x3-4 FrWOLF x2-6 6: <3Bb> CHIMERA x3-4 5: <55a> CHIMERA x1-2 JIMERA x1-2 7: <3Bb> CHIMERA x3-4 6: <55a> CHIMERA x1-2 8: <50b> SLIME x4-8 JIMERA x1-2 7: <50b> SLIME x4-8 8: <53b> WzVAMP x1-3 ZombieD x1-2 3F EARTH ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <4Db> BADMAN x5-9 1: <3Fb> MudGOL x1-4 RockGOL x1-3 2: <4Db> BADMAN x5-9 2: <40b> GrMEDUSA x4-7 3: <59b> Gas D x2-4 ** 3: <3Fb> MudGOL x1-4 4: <59b> Gas D x2-4 ** RockGOL x1-3 5: <59b> Gas D x2-4 ** 4: <40b> GrMEDUSA x4-7 6: <2Fb> MAGE x2-3 5: <21b> EARTH x2-4 ** FIGHTER x1-1 6: <21b> EARTH x2-4 ** 7: <2Fb> MAGE x2-3 FIGHTER x1-1 7: <21b> EARTH x2-4 ** 8: <53b> WzVAMP x1-3 8: <3Ab> SAURIA x2-4 ZombieD x1-2 FIRE WATER ------------------------ ------------------------- 1: <28b> Grey W x2-4 1: <49b> WATER x3-6 ** 2: <28b> Grey W x2-4 2: <44a> LOBSTER x1-6 SeaSNAKE x2-5 3: <26b> R.GIANT x1-1 SeaTROLL x2-2 AGAMA x0-3 3: <49b> WATER x3-6 ** 4: <26b> R.GIANT x1-1 AGAMA x0-3 4: <44a> LOBSTER x1-6 SeaSNAKE x2-5 5: <29b> AGAMA x2-4 SeaTROLL x2-2 6: <29b> AGAMA x2-4 5: <45b> WzSAHAG x3-6 GrSHARK x2-2 7: <27b> FIRE x3-4 ** 6: <45b> WzSAHAG x3-6 8: <2Ab> Red D x2-4 GrSHARK x2-2 7: <48b> GrSHARK x1-2 BigEYE x1-2 8: <47b> NAGA x1-2 ** WATER x3-6 AIR ------------------------ 1: <51b> AIR x3-6 2: <57b> WORM x3-4 ** 3: <68b> WzVAMP x1-1 VAMPPIRE x3-7 4: <58b> RockGOL x2-4 5: <54b> EVILMAN x1-2 NITEMARE x1-2 6: <53b> WzVAMP x1-3 ZombieD x1-2 7: <6Cb> SORCERER x3-7 8: <7Fb> IRONGOL x1-2 ** For reference, here is the battle script in all its glory. 1: 3 33: 3 65: 1 97: 4 129: 8 161: 5 193: 2 225: 1 2: 4 34: 7 66: 4 98: 3 130: 4 162: 3 194: 1 226: 4 3: 3 35: 1 67: 3 99: 6 131: 4 163: 2 195: 2 227: 3 4: 6 36: 2 68: 2 100: 5 132: 2 164: 2 196: 6 228: 1 5: 2 37: 7 69: 6 101: 4 133: 7 165: 4 197: 8 229: 4 6: 2 38: 1 70: 4 102: 1 134: 4 166: 4 198: 4 230: 3 7: 7 39: 4 71: 3 103: 1 135: 2 167: 3 199: 1 231: 2 8: 5 40: 5 72: 2 104: 3 136: 2 168: 3 200: 1 232: 3 9: 3 41: 3 73: 1 105: 4 137: 2 169: 1 201: 4 233: 1 10: 5 42: 3 74: 4 106: 2 138: 7 170: 4 202: 3 234: 6 11: 5 43: 5 75: 5 107: 3 139: 6 171: 3 203: 1 235: 1 12: 1 44: 4 76: 5 108: 4 140: 1 172: 2 204: 3 236: 5 13: 6 45: 4 77: 2 109: 3 141: 5 173: 5 205: 5 237: 3 14: 2 46: 6 78: 3 110: 2 142: 3 174: 1 206: 8 238: 2 15: 5 47: 6 79: 3 111: 5 143: 4 175: 3 207: 5 239: 4 16: 1 48: 1 80: 6 112: 3 144: 1 176: 1 208: 2 240: 1 17: 2 49: 4 81: 2 113: 1 145: 3 177: 4 209: 2 241: 1 18: 4 50: 6 82: 3 114: 2 146: 5 178: 3 210: 2 242: 1 19: 5 51: 1 83: 5 115: 6 147: 2 179: 4 211: 7 243: 4 20: 7 52: 1 84: 1 116: 2 148: 3 180: 3 212: 8 244: 6 21: 4 53: 6 85: 6 117: 2 149: 5 181: 5 213: 3 245: 6 22: 2 54: 3 86: 2 118: 5 150: 4 182: 4 214: 5 246: 4 23: 4 55: 6 87: 3 119: 4 151: 1 183: 2 215: 4 247: 3 24: 7 56: 3 88: 1 120: 7 152: 6 184: 1 216: 2 248: 3 25: 1 57: 4 89: 2 121: 2 153: 2 185: 4 217: 2 249: 6 26: 4 58: 3 90: 4 122: 2 154: 1 186: 1 218: 1 250: 5 27: 2 59: 7 91: 1 123: 4 155: 1 187: 2 219: 3 251: 6 28: 1 60: 2 92: 3 124: 3 156: 4 188: 1 220: 3 252: 2 29: 1 61: 2 93: 4 125: 4 157: 1 189: 2 221: 1 253: 2 30: 4 62: 1 94: 2 126: 4 158: 3 190: 7 222: 1 254: 3 31: 6 63: 4 95: 3 127: 2 159: 4 191: 2 223: 3 255: 4 32: 6 64: 6 96: 6 128: 3 160: 1 192: 7 224: 1 256: 1 * I did not compile this script. Patbuns17 compiled it with data he got from Rincewind. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |)))[[[))) | { d. Optimal Paths } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| Probably the most essential information for completing this game is the paths you can take that let you avoid fighting enemy encounters you can't run from. The numbers next to the floor/location represent the # on the battle script that you should fight on each floor. So if you see Earth Cave F3: 4-32, that means you are clear to fight battles 4-32 in that floor without encountering Wizards. In many areas, you need to follow the path EXACTLY as it is written or you will wind up fighting an enemy encounter you can't get away from. I've included multiple battle paths for some areas in case you aren't very close in the battle script to one particular path. Earth Cave Part I B3:10-32, 43-54, 113-123, 129-141, 181-201 Earth Cave Part II B3: 10-16 B4: 17-24 B3: 46-52 B4: 53-61 B3:113-123 B4:114-139 B3:181-188 B4:189-193 Castle of Ordeals F2:18-24 F3: X F2:95-101 F3: X F2:39-47 F3: X Ice Cave B1:42-44 B2:45-47 B3:0 B2:48-49 B3:50-52 B1:53-54 B2:0 B3:55-57 B1:58-59 Waterfall Avoid #129,197,206,212 Sea Shrine Part I B3:10-11 B2:12-14 B2:15-17 B3:18-32 {or} B3:113 B2:114-116 B2:117-118 B3:119-123 Sky Castle F1:22-27 F2:28-35 {or} F1:43-48 F2:49-59 {or} F1:190-195 F2:196-207 Gurgu Volcano F1:21 F2: 22 F3:23-24 F4:0 F3:25-26 F4:27-28 F5:29-30 {or} F1:162 F2:163 F3:164-165 F4:0 F3:166-167 F4:168-169 F5: 170-172 Sea Shrine Part II B3:10-12 B4:13-15 B3:0 B2:16 B3:17-26 B4:27-29 B5:30-39 {or} B3:129-131 B4:132-133 B3:134 B2:135-136 B3:137-138 B4:139-141 B5:142-145 Temple of Fiends F1:2-3 F2:0 F3:4-6 F2:7-8 F1:9-11 Earth:12-14* Fire:15-17 Water:18-24 Air:25 Water:26-27 Air:28-35 Water:36-37 Air: X * You will take one battle of experience with an Earth group here. /| / | / | | |_______________________________________ _ __________| / \ / | | / \ ( |))))))))) | { e. Ship Game Tutorial } \_|__________| \ / | \______________________________________ / | | \ | \ | \| I put this section together for those of you who aren't so good with the number tile game. Because the numbers change each time, we need a strategy rather than a step by step walkthrough. If you follow the steps listed, you should be able to solve the puzzle within a minute with a little practice. After a while, you'll start to get the hang of the finer points of the puzzle and your time will improve even more. X's denote spaces where it does not matter what number is placed there. STEP 1 STEP 2 STEP 3 --------------- --------------- --------------- 1 X X X 1 X X 4 1 X 2 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Start by moving the 1 Next, move the 4 into Move the 2 to the into position in the position in the upper left of the 4. upper left. right. STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 --------------- --------------- --------------- 1 2 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 X X 3 X X X X X 5 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X Next, move the 3 into Slide the 2 and 3 Move the 5 into position just below into place. position below the 1. 2. Make sure the space to the left of the 2 is open. STEP 7 STEP 8 STEP 9 --------------- --------------- --------------- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 X X 8 5 X 6 8 5 6 8 X X X X X X X X X X 7 X X X X X X X X X X X X X Now move the 8 into Move the 6 into the Move the 7 into position below the 4. slot next to the 8. place just below the 6. Be sure the space to the left of the 6 is open. STEP 10 STEP 11 STEP 12 --------------- --------------- --------------- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 6 7 8 5 6 7 8 X X X X 13 9 X X 9 X X X X X X X X X X 13 X X X Slide the 6 and 7 Move the 13 and 9 Slide the 9 and 13 into place. into position as into place. shown. Be sure the space below the 13 is open. STEP 13 STEP 14 STEP 15 --------------- --------------- --------------- 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 5 6 7 8 5 6 7 8 9 14 10 X 9 10 X X 9 10 11 12 13 X X 13 14 X X 13 14 15 Move the 14 and 10 Slide the 10 and 14 If you've followed into position as into place. all the previous shown. Be sure the steps correctly you space below the 14 is need only rotate the open. 11, 12, and 15 until they fall into place.