******************************************************************************* * * * Final Fantasy X-2 -- The Last Mission * * General Information and Playthrough Guide * * * ******************************************************************************* Written by Bill Russell Final Fantasy X-2 is copyright 2001 - 2004 by Square Enix Co., Ltd. Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster is copyright 2013, 2014 by Square Enix Co., Ltd. This FAQ is copyright 2014 -- Bill Russell This publication is protected by United States copyright law. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission of the author. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. If you wish to post this FAQ or any portion of it to any other site, please write to me. Questions or comments can be sent to me at auron402@gmail.com If you intend to give this review either a positive or a negative recommendation, I would very much appreciate it if you would read the next-to- last paragraph in this guide before doing so. ****************************************************************************** * I. Revision History (LM01) * ****************************************************************************** Version Completed 1.00 13 October 2014 1.10 20 October 2014 * Added information about DS with long-range attacks. * Added complete chart of Auto-Abilities, Accessory names, and AP. * Fixed the erroneous copyright information, caused by my sloppy cut-and-paste job from a previous FAQ. * Thoroughly re-wrote and re-organized the Accessories section. * Added information about the Cursed Seal, which somehow got left out of my original list of Traps. * Added advice about finding a secondary DS to complement your primary DS. 1.20 * Added a couple of basic controller features that might not be obvious. * Added information about using the Berserker, Black Mage, and Festivalist as your primary DS. * Added floor-by-floor listing of enemies. * Added information about the different Magic spells available based on your choice of Yuna, Rikku, or Paine. * Added a note about when secondary DS actually level up your character. * Added specifics about optimizing use of Accessory slots. * Added information about enemy attacks and abilities. I haven't double-checked this yet, so I'm sure that there are some mistakes. I'll iron those out in the next update. * Added some ideas for challenge runs. * Expanded the information about Cactuars. * Added an observation about a possible "hidden" influence on effectiveness in battle. * Added information about "P," "M," and "D" abilities. * Made a whole lot of other changes that I forgot to record as I did them. 1.30 13 April 2015 * Expanded on uses of the Songstress' Change Out ability. * Re-wrote description of Confusion status. * Added a "big picture" strategy. * Added a lot of enemy Abilities that I failed to notice and/or record on previous runs. * Added information about Yuna's "Dig" ability, particularly Accessories that are only available from using this command. ****************************************************************************** * II. Introduction (LM02) * ****************************************************************************** I, like many people, played the Last Mission add-on game in FF-X2 primarily to earn the trophies. As I embarked on my first run through the tower, I was surprised by the scarcity of information about the game. This led to a certain amount of frustration trying to figure out just what I was supposed to be doing and how I was supposed to do it. As I picked up items whose purposes eluded me, got snared by annoying traps, and lost key items at the hands of pesky enemies, my irritation grew. In time, though, I found some useful information about the game, and as I progressed through the Tower, I have to admit that I began to get into the game. Upon the conclusion of my first successful run, I had this inexplicable desire to attempt another run, even though I had already earned all 6 trophies. Like most such games, the Last Mission has strategies, concepts, and trade- offs. On my second run, I began to piece together how the game worked -- information that I would have found very useful before undertaking my first run. Additionally, I found that my experiences contradicted some of the information that I had gathered elsewhere. In an attempt to help other adventurers get past the game's frustrations and appreciate its strengths, I decided to undertake my 6th game guide. The Last Mission is actually a decent game in its own right. Similar to (but not nearly as deep as) the Ancient Cave of Lufia II, Last Mission forces you to use only items that you find within the Tower. Managing these limited resources is the main difficulty of the game. With a plethora of items available yet a capacity for carrying a mere 20 items, Last Mission challenges you to make tough decisions at every turn. There is something very pure about navigating a dungeon using only the items that you find within. Even after I save my progress, planning to stop playing for a while, I find myself running around the next floor checking out the items to see if anything useful shows up, even though I plan on shutting off the deck, thereby losing those items. It is that anticipation of the unknown that really draws you into this game. This is good because, quite frankly, the challenge level is rather low. Your chance of successfully completing your first run is probably around 90%, and your chances on successive runs are probably very close to 100% -- especially with the useful information you are about to receive. Although I will make suggestions along the way, my intention is not to espouse a single strategy for the game but rather to give the adventurer sufficient information to make educated decisions. If Last Mission has replay value, it lies within the flexibility of the game. There are 16 choices for your primary dressphere, and each represents a strategy for reaching the apex of the Tower. Feel free to choose a direction that appeals to you. ****************************************************************************** * III. What This Guide Is and What It Isn't (LM03) * ****************************************************************************** My primary purpose in writing this guide is to provide information about how the game works. I will examine various elements of the game in detail, trying to give you enough information that you can make informed decisions as you play through the game. I will then divide the Tower up into groups of 5 - 10 floors and describe things to keep in mind as you progress through those particular floors. I will do my best to keep my editorializing to a minimum, although I make no promises. This guide is most decidedly NOT a bunch of lists. If you want lists of all available Accessories, all Items, etc., I would refer you to the Last Mission guide by Wnyerv, which can be found on GameFAQs.com. This guide does a very thorough job of detailing these lists for you, and I see no reason to duplicate those efforts. My purpose, instead, is to provide information that is not readily available elsewhere. ****************************************************************************** * IV. Contents (LM04) * ****************************************************************************** I. Revision History (LM01) II. Introduction (LM02) III. What This Guide Is and What It Isn't (LM03) IV. Contents (LM04) V. Overview (LM05) VI. Developing Your Character (LM06) VII. YRP's Level (LM07) VIII. Dressphere Levels (LM08) IX. Choosing Your Primary DS (LM09) X. Navigating the Tower (LM10) XI. Traps (LM11) XII. Stones (LM12) XIII. Shops (LM13) XIV. Accessories and Auto-Abilities (LM14) XV. Items (LM15) XVI. Inventory Control (LM16) XVII. The Founder (LM17) XVIII. Tower Climbing for Fun and Profit (LM18) XIX. Walkthrough (LM19) F01 - F10 (WF01-F10) F11 - F15 (WF11-F15) F16 - F20 (WF16-F20) F21 - F25 (WF21-F25) F26 - F30 (WF26-F30) F31 - F35 (WF31-F35) F36 - F40 (WF36-F40) F41 - F45 (WF41-F45) F45 - F50 (WF46-F50) F51 - F55 (WF51-F55) F56 - F60 (WF56-F60) F61 - F65 (WF61-F65) F66 - F70 (WF66-F70) F71 - F75 (WF71-F75) F76 - F80 (WF76-F80) XX. Final Words (LM20) ****************************************************************************** * V. Overview (LM05) * ****************************************************************************** I'm going to begin by outlining the basics of the game and some of the abbreviations that I will be using throughout this guide. * In the Last Mission (LM) you start on Floor 1 (F1) of a Tower. * Your goal is to reach F80 and defeat the boss there. * Bosses also appear on F20, F40, and F60. * You may Save your game on every 5th floor (F5, F10, etc.) or by using a found item called a Save Memo when taking any elevator. * The elevators on floors whose numbers are multiples of 5 but are not multiples of 20 (i.e., F5 and F15 but not F40) are locked. To unlock these elevators, you must meet certain requirements (which I have detailed for you in the Walkthrough section.) These requirements are usually some combination of defeating a certain number of enemies, using certain items, and performing various actions a certain number of times. * Each floor contains enemies to defeat. Doing so yields Experience (EXP) and Ability Points (AP). * AP are used to create Accessories that bestow abilities if equipped. Your character -- Yuna, Rikku, or Paine (YRP) can equip up to 2 Accessories at a given time. * Each floor contains items that you may pick up and/or use. However, you can only carry a total of 20 items at any one time. * You can equip up to 5 Dresspheres (DS). You must choose one as your primary DS (the game calls it your "Base" DS), while the other 4 are secondary. * Each equipped DS bestows unique abilities AND contributes to your overall stats. * When you are damaged by an enemy, your primary DS loses Hit Points (HP.) If a DS's HP reaches 0, that DS is destroyed and your next DS in line will become your primary DS. You REALLY don't want this to ever happen. * Your character YRP also has HP and Magic Points (MP). YRP's HP may be spent on using certain abilities (such as Doom). YRP's MP may be used for other abilities, such as recovering HP. * Play is turn-based. A turn consists of moving one square in any direction (including diagonally), using an Ability, attacking an enemy, using an item, or rearranging your DS's. Once you have taken an action, every enemy in the room can then take an action before you get another turn. I feel that I should also mention a couple of important controller functions, just in case you didn't read through the tutorial outside of the Tower. I'm always amused when FAQs detail every single function of the controller -- as if you couldn't figure out that the left analog stick causes your character to move. However, the following functions are quite important and are not necessarily all that intuitive. R2 and L2 -- Rotate YRP to aim at a target. YRP must be pointed in the correct direction in order to land an attack. When an enemy attacks YRP, she will automatically rotate to face the attacking enemy. If she is attacked by more than one enemy, she will face the last enemy that attacked her. Triangle -- Calls up the menus for Items, Dresses, and the like. The Check option at the bottom allows you to take an elevator or inspect an item under your feet it your inventory is full. Notice also that if you scroll Right from the primary menu, you can reach another set of options, such as checking your character's Status, Sorting items, etc. Circle + Select -- Allows you to pass a turn without taking an action. You're probably wondering why on earth you would want to do this, but it actually is a surprisingly useful tool. For example, if you're trying to enter a room but an enemy is blocking your entrance, passing a turn might make that enemy move aside and let you in. Once inside a room, passing a turn can be useful in giving you the first attack. For example, if there is one empty square between you and an enemy and you move into that square, the enemy will probably attack you. However, if you pass a turn, that enemy might (or might not) move into that square, allowing you to attack first and ultimately take one less hit. I'm going to assume that you can figure out the rest of the controls for yourself. Let's move on to ways to develop your character. ****************************************************************************** * VI. Developing Your Character (LM06) * ****************************************************************************** Your primary goal while ascending the Tower is to improve your character's stats for the more difficult battles that lie ahead. So, let's next unravel the mysteries about how your character's stats are calculated and what you can do to increase them, thereby making her more powerful. Before starting, let's make note of all available stats. Their names are pretty much self-explanatory if you have ever played an RPG. HP = Hit Points MP = Magic Points PA = Physical Attack PD = Physical Defense MA = Magic MD = Magic Defense EVA = Evasion ACC = Accuracy Note that there is no Agility stat. This is because play is turn-based rather than time-based. Gil can be found lying on the ground like other items or can be earned by defeating defenseless Gold statues (Section XII) that appear randomly in rooms. You do not receive gil for defeating enemies. The stats that you have in battle work like this: * Your available HP are the HP of your primary DS * Your available MP are the MP that YRP has * For all other categories, your stats are the SUM of YRP's stats and the combined stats of all equipped DS. As usual, stats increase by leveling up, but the way that this works in LM is kind of unusual. Basically, you can level up YRP and you can also independently level up your DS, as detailed in the next 2 sections. ****************************************************************************** * VII. YRP's Level (LM07) * ****************************************************************************** YRP can increase levels in two ways. The easy way is by finding and drinking potions that increase levels. Enhancing Potion raises YRP by 1 level; Growth Tonic raises her by 2 levels; and Evolutionary Water raises her by 3 levels. Most often, these are found as items lying on the ground, but sometimes they can be purchased at a Shop or stolen from an enemy. Needless to say, you NEVER pass up one of these potions. If your inventory is full, you can still drink one lying on the ground without using up inventory space. Unfortunately, if you find one in a Shop you can only buy it if you have space in your inventory. Generally, I'd advise you to sell off something that you can live without and then buy the Potion. The other way YRP gains level is by amassing EXP earned by defeating enemies. This works in the usual RPG fashion. EXP points and leveling potions are both relatively plentiful. If you are diligent about defeating enemies for EXP and drink every leveling potion in sight, YRP's level should be very close to the floor number you are on at any time. Please note that defeating an enemy by using Doom does NOT yield any EXP and consequently does not help YRP level up. Every time YRP levels up, she gains HP and MP. She will also increase ONE of the other six stats, chosen more or less randomly, by anywhere from 1 - 3 points. I say "more or less" because certain combinations of DS will make YRP more likely to increase one stat than the other 5. However, as long as you keep leveling up YRP, over time your character's stats will all increase. Remember that while YRP's MP can be used during your turns, YRP's HP increases do not increase the HP of your primary character in battle. The HP you have in battle are determined by your primary DS. YRP's HP are like MP -- they can be spent to use abilities but are not decreased when you take damage from an enemy unless you have no DS equipped. ****************************************************************************** * VIII. Dressphere Levels (LM08) * ****************************************************************************** DS level up by finding similar DS and Fusing them into a new DS with a higher level. For example, if your primary DS is a Level 10 Dark Knight and you find a Level 2 Dark Knight DS, you can fuse those together to make a Level 12 Dark Knight DS PROVIDED that you have a Folio (basically a book) called "Dress Fusion Secrets." These Folios are found as items, can be purchased in a Shop, or can be stolen from enemies. New DS for fusing can be found as items, purchased at the Dress Shop (again, the proper Folio is required to access the Dress Shop) or stolen from the Founder (more on him in Section XVII.) DS -- unlike YRP -- level up in a predictable fashion. Each DS will only increase certain stats, one of which is always HP. Leveling up a DS will never increase MP, as MP come exclusively from YRP's level. In a moment, I'll show you a table of which DS increases which stats, but first we need to consider one other factor. Your primary DS increases stats exactly twice as much as your secondary DS. So, for example, raising a Dark Knight DS by 2 levels will increase your PD by 1 point if that DS is in a secondary position, but those same 2 levels will raise PD by 2 points if that DS is in the primary position! Clearly, you want to choose your primary DS carefully and make it the primary target of leveling up, as you get twice the bang for your buck. I should also observe that secondary DS HP do not increase the HP that you have available in battle, as that number is determined solely by your primary DS. So, if your character shows a maximum HP of 300 and you increase the level on a secondary DS, you still only have 300 HP in battle. OK -- here is the table showing what increases you get for which stat with which DS. These numbers assume that the DS in question is in the PRIMARY position. Remember that SECONDARY DS will only increase half as much. ******************************************************************* * DRESSPHERE * PA * PD * MA * MD * EVA * ACC * ******************************************************************* * Alchemist * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 1 * ******************************************************************* * Berserker * 2 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Black Mage * 0 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Dark Knight * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * ******************************************************************* * Festivalist * 1 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * ******************************************************************* * Gun Mage * 1 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Gunner * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 2 * ******************************************************************* * Lady Luck * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 1 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Mascot * 0 * 1 * 0 * 2 * 0 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Psychic * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 0 * 2 * ******************************************************************* * Samurai * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Songstress * 0 * 1 * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * Thief * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 2 * 1 * ******************************************************************* * Trainer * 1 * 0 * 0 * 1 * 0 * 1 * ******************************************************************* * Warrior * 1 * 2 * 0 * 0 * 0 * 0 * ******************************************************************* * White Mage * 0 * 1 * 1 * 0 * 1 * 0 * ******************************************************************* In most cases, the stat increases for secondary DS occur when the DS goes from an even level to an odd level. For example, if a White Mage DS in a Secondary position levels from 3 to 4, you will see no increases in stats. When that same White Mage levels from 4 to 5, PD, Magic, and EVA will all increase by 1. The exception to this is DS that double up on certain stats. For example, when a Warrior DS levels up from 3 to 4, PD will increase by 1. When that same Warrior DS levels up from 4 to 5, PA and PD will each increase by 1. In practice, there seems to be more to stats than I have detailed here. In actually gameplay, it appears that increasing YRP's levels causes increases even in at least some of the 5 stats that are not specifically leveled up. For example, at the beginning of the game, YRP is at Level 1. Let's say for sake of argument that at that point, your character is consistently hitting a Coyote for 4 HP damage per turn. After a while, YRP gains enough EXP to advance to Level 2, and let's say that the text tells you that the only stat that is increased (other than her HP and MP) is PD. Even though PA did not specifically increase, you will find that your character now consistently hits Coyotes for 6 HP damage per turn instead of 4 HP. Watch closely for the first couple of floors, and you will see what I mean. I can only hypothesize that some other factor -- perhaps YRP's HP -- has an "invisible" effect on your character's effectiveness in battle. ****************************************************************************** * IX. Choosing Your Primary DS (LM09) * ****************************************************************************** Part of the depth of the LM is that your choice of primary DS to a large extent determines how your run will progress. There is certainly a school of thought that Dark Knight is the primary DS of choice because of high HP, high PD stat and availability of the Doom Ability. This is the strategy that I used for my first run, but it certainly had its drawbacks. Here are a few: * Many enemies -- mostly mechs and machina -- cannot be defeated by Doom, so sooner or later you're going to have to slug it out with your enemies. * Since Dark Knight doesn't level up the PA stat, your PA will be very low and these battles become very tedious. * You get no EXP from killing an enemy using Doom. Thus, your PA, MD, and EVA stats aren't going to grow very quickly because YRP's levels will increase slowly. * You can put your Dark Knight DS in a secondary slot and still have access to Doom when you need it, so there is no compelling reason to make it your primary DS. * Using Doom over and over again gets really boring really quickly. I'd estimate that a run to the top of the Tower takes about twice as long if you rely primarily on Doom and is at most half as fun. If you want to try this approach, by all means do so. Here are some observations about other possibilities. * A good PA stat is worth developing. Regardless of the strategy that you choose, eventually you are going to have to defeat enemies with physical attacks. * Don't overlook Accuracy. A huge PA stat won't do you much good if you can't hit your target. You will want to develop ACC in almost every run. * In general, you need to develop your character's PD or EVA but probably not both. If you choose a primary DS that increases EVA when it levels up, you will eventually get to the point where almost all physical attacks miss, and you don't take damage if your enemies can't hit you. Also, if you choose a primary DS that has a long-range weapon, you can often defeat enemies before they can get close enough to damage you. Be aware, however, that some physical attacks cannot be evaded, so you generally don't want to rely solely on EVA. * On the other hand, MD is crucial. Magic attacks ALWAYS hit, and there are many enemies that just pound you with Magic until they run out of MP. With a good MD stat, this isn't a problem. ALWAYS develop MD. * If you choose a primary DS that uses a long-range attack (e.g. Gun Mage), a high MD stat is especially important. If an enemy is in your line of fire, then you are in his as well and some Magic-casting enemies will get in plenty of attacks before you finish them off. * For what it's worth, when you get right next to a Magic-casting enemy, it will often stop throwing Magic at you and resort instead to Physical Attacks. Some don't even have a PA, meaning that once you get right next to them, you can pound on them at will. * Unless your strategy is going to involve barraging your enemies with Magic, the MA stat is of lesser importance. However, you generally want your MA stat to be high enough to knock out a Cactuar with one spell. Keep in mind that whatever you choose for your primary DS, it will have weaknesses. The awesome physical attacks of the Berserker won't do you much good if your Accuracy is so low that your attacks seldom connect. Thus, it is equally important to find a secondary DS that has strengths to offset the weaknesses of your primary DS. So, continuing with the example of having a Berserker as your primary DS, both the Alchemist and Trainer DS will add to your ACC and MD, thus helping balance out your character's stats. All DS except Alchemist, Gun Mage, Gunner, and Lady Luck have a basic attack with a range of 1 square in any direction. These 4 exceptions all have long- range weapons with a reach of 3 squares in any direction. The first 3 have long-range attacks because they are clearly equipped with guns. Lady Luck seems to damage foes from a distance by throwing cards at them, apparently inflicting very painful and potentially fatal paper cuts. Here are a couple of personal favorites for your primary DS. * Samurai -- For a well-rounded character, the Samurai is hard to beat. As Samurai gains levels, it increases the near-perfect combination of PA, MD, and Evasion. Add a Gunner or Thief to boost Accuracy, and you've got it all -- strong physical attacks that rarely miss; good defense against long-range Magic attacks; and the ability to dodge just about any physical attack. Oh, yes and lots of HP as you level up. Perfect, especially for early runs. * Gun Mage -- Using a long range weapon is less of an advantage than you might think. You have a big edge over enemies that can only execute PAs from one square away, but you're still going to get pounded by anything that slings Magic. I do have to admit that it is mighty satisfying to blast a Cactuar from the relative safety of 3 squares away, but you have to be careful. Cactuars have high Evasion and can dodge your attacks unless your ACC stat is high, which it likely isn't the first couple of time that you encounter Cactuars. As a rule, Magic is a more reliable way of dealing with Cacturs. Still Gun Mage is worth trying. Leveling up still boosts PA and MD, but also boosts the relatively useless MA stat. A well-developed Thief DS can complement your Gun Mage by adding both Evasion and Accuracy. * Berserker -- Although the attack animation is somewhat annoying, the Berserker just can't be beat for raw power. Every level up gives you +2 PA -- WOW! You also get +1 Evasion, meaning that at sufficiently high levels, physical attacks will rarely hit you. For balance, you will need Accuracy and MD. The logical choice is Trainer, which will also boost PA. Berserker is pretty useless for Auto-Abilities, but Trainer is necessary for Doomproof. Add a Dark Knight (boosts Accuracy) and a Samurai (boosts PA and Evasion), and you will always be Doomproof and will have just awesome power and Evasion. Trainer also has the very useful Long Shot ability that allows you to pick off Cactuars (or any other enemy, for that matter) from ANY distance (provided, of course, that you are in line with them) for a paltry 4 MP! * Black Mage -- Your initial reaction to relying on a Black Mage's Magic attacks is probably fear of running out of MP. This is easily managed by making a Waxing Moonstone (Black Mage + Dark Knight + Gun Mage) as soon as possible, as this Accessory will heal your MP slowly over time. What you get in return is the awesome power of Magic attacks. The Magic element that you get depends on your YRP choice -- Rikku comes with Thudaga, Yuna comes with Firaga, and Paine has the Blizzaga attack. Magic will one-hit kill just about any enemy from up to 3 squares away -- hitting for at least double the damage of physical attacks -- and its accuracy is 100%. As a Black Mage, you will never fear a Cactuar again, for you can reliably one-hit kill them from a safe distance. In addition to Magic, Black Mage also boosts the very useful PD and MD stats, so you're going to take very little damage. Unfortunately, in the later floors you will encounter some enemies with very high MD, and some enemies are healed by specific Magic. Worst of all, the final boss is also healed by Thundaga, leaving you to slug it out hand-to-hand. A Trainer is a good choice for a secondary DS as it boosts the PA and ACC stats that you are going to need. As a bonus Black Mage + Trainer makes you immune to Lightning attacks. Black Mage is definitely a greater challenge than Samurai or Berserker, but it also adds a new dimension, and for that reason is definitely worth trying at least once. ****************************************************************************** * X. Navigating the Tower (LM10) * ****************************************************************************** The Tower consists of 3 main elements -- rooms, hallways, and doorways. Here are the characteristics of each. ROOMS, as the name implies, are open areas. Rooms will almost always contain enemies and may contain Traps (covered in the next section.) On your map, enemies are indicated in red; items are indicated in white; the flashing light blue square is your location; the dark blue squares indicate your range of attack with your weapon or the action that you have chosen; and Traps that have been revealed are indicated with a yellow "X." Be aware that most Traps are concealed and will not show up on your map until you step on them unless you have an Accessory or combination of DS that reveals them to you. New enemies can spawn in any room. However, there seems to be a limit to the number of live enemies on a given floor at any time. Thus, sometimes you will run around and have enemies spawn right next to you, and other times you can run around almost endlessly without a new enemy spawning anywhere on that floor. Remember that within rooms you can move in any direction, including diagonally. If you are as inept at moving the analog stick diagonally as I am, try rotating the view 45 degrees (right analog stick) and then moving forward, backwards, or sideways. Even I can do that correctly! Generally, you want to avoid being in line with enemies that cast Magic, as they can damage you from as much as 3 - 4 squares away diagonally. Learn to read the map and move so that you are not in their line of fire because Magic attacks cannot be Evaded -- they connect 100% of the time unless you have an Accessory or DS combination that makes you immune. Again, once you move adjacent to Magic-using enemies, they will almost always resort to physical attacks instead of using Magic. If you work on raising your Evasion stat, you can often dodge these Physical Attacks. I find this especially entertaining when an enemy spends a turn boosting its Magic and then never using it because you moved next to it without ever previously getting in line with it. Some enemies breathe fire or other attacks over a broad range of area. Just accept that you're going to take some damage getting up next to them and move in as efficiently as possible. As a rule, diagonal movement is the quickest route to your destination. HALLWAYS are those narrow corridors that connect rooms or, sometimes, lead to dead ends. Grrrrrrr! I hate wasting time going down dead end halls. Hallways never contain Traps, and they never contain items (unless you drop one there), but they sometimes contain enemies. A given hallway will either contain enemies or not. If you pass through an entire hallway without ever encountering an enemy, chances are that enemies will never spawn in that hallway. Extremely long hallways that seem to go nowhere usually do. If you have Thief + Trainer equipped, you will have the "Detect All Traps" Auto-Ability and will see little yellow x's everywhere that a Trap is located. If a long hallway leads to an area with no yellow x's, chances are that said hallway leads to a dead end since almost every room contains at least one Trap, especially on the higher floors (see Section XI.) The places where hallways take right-angle bends are unusual. Consider the rather rudimentary picture below: ----------------- | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ----------------- | 5 | ----- Assume that this hallway continues left from square 1 and down from square 5. If an enemy is on square 3, you can attack it diagonally from square 5, just as if you were in a room. However, you cannot move directly from square 5 to square 3 (or vice versa.) Either way, you must first pass through square 4. Your enemies, by the way, CAN move directly from square 3 to square 5. Go figure. This is especially important to remember if you find a Cactuar in a hallway (where they seem to LOVE to reside) and hit it with Doom. Doom has a reach of 3 squares, and the Cactuar's X-Needles attack has a reach of 1 square. Suppose that the Cactuar is on square 1 and you are on square 3. You cast Doom (from only 2 squares away) and the Cactuar moves to square 2. You would like to move to square 5, but since that move isn't possible, you retreat to square 4. The Cactuar responds by moving to square 3. You retreat to square 5. Now instead of being 2 squares away from the Cactuar, you are only one (diagonal) square away. The Cactuar can now hit you with his dreaded X-Needles attack, which is exactly what you are trying to avoid. The moral is that whenever possible, make sure that you are 3 squares away from Cactuars that you are hitting with Doom. DOORWAYS have "magic barriers" that prevent attacks across them. If you are in a hallway, you cannot attack an enemy that is in a room and vice versa. Likewise, an enemy that is in a hallway cannot follow you into a room or vice versa. This is both good and bad. The good news is that if you enter a room and find yourself surrounded by enemies, you can retreat into the hallway. Having entered the room once, the map of that room is now activated and you can track the enemies' locations from the safety of the hallway. The bad news is that enemies have the extremely annoying habit of hovering in front of doorways, thus preventing you from entering or exiting a room. This forces you to pass turns (Select + Circle) waiting for them to get out of your way. As a rule, wasting turns is not something that you want to do until you are ready to move to the next floor. And, let us not overlook that possibility that while you are standing in a hallway passing turns and waiting for the entrance to clear, an enemy can spawn right behind you in the hallway, thus boxing you in. It is also worth noting that if you Doom an enemy and then retreat into a hallway, that enemy's Doom counter stops once you exit the room. The counter only goes down for turns in which the enemy has the opportunity to act against you, whether by attacking or moving in for an attack. It is possible to run down an enemy's Doom counter by entering a room and then exiting after the enemy gets a turn. As long as you are not within the enemy's line of attack when you enter, you are safe doing this. However, this can be tricky and time- consuming. I'd advise only using this strategy for Cactuar emergencies. Doorways are also prime locations for Traps, so let's look at Traps next. ****************************************************************************** * XI. Traps (LM11) * ****************************************************************************** I'm going to open with a rant about why I hate Traps. Feel free to skip this paragraph altogether. Traps are a completely unnecessary annoyance in the Last Mission. It's not like the game isn't hard enough already, and it isn't as if you have no defense against them. I just resent having to allocate some of my extremely limited resources defending against these totally arbitrary elements of the game. Traps do not make the game more challenging or more fun -- they just make it more frustrating. There -- I feel much better now for getting that off my chest. Traps can appear in any room (except rooms with Bosses) but never appear in hallways. Very few rooms contain no Traps at all, and rooms with 5 - 6 Traps in them are quite common, and I've seen relatively small rooms containing as many as 8 Traps. It seems that they are especially prevalent on that one tile on which you must step to pass from a doorway to a room, thus making them unavoidable. Other times a line of 3 Traps will block passage from a room into a hallway, again making them unavoidable. Traps do not always activate when you step on them. Honestly, I have no idea what determines whether Traps activate or not. When they do not activate, I breathe a sigh of relief. When the do activate, I tend to curse out loud. Enemies, of course, can pass freely across Traps without getting -- well -- Trapped, which really doesn't seem logical or fair. How little tiny Rikku can set off a trap that some huge Gigas stomps on damage-free is beyond me, but such is the Physics of video games. The bottom line is that I despise Traps SO much that I'm willing to make the Stealth Cape -- an Accessory that makes you immune to Traps -- a high priority in the game. This is not so much to preserve life as it is to preserve sanity. Thief + Trainer will give you the Auto-Ability to detect all Traps, and Black Mage + Lady Luck will give you the Auto-Ability to detect nearby Traps. There is also a Seeing Book Folio that will display all Traps on your map. All of these are very nice but do you absolutely no good if, as described above, the Traps lie in a location that you cannot avoid traversing. There is a Trap Evading Primer that will disable all Traps on a floor, but I certainly wouldn't waste the inventory space to carry one. If you find one of these Primers before you get your Stealth Cape, read it to disable the Traps on that floor but leave it behind when you advance to the next floor unless you still have oceans of space in your inventory. Your only true salvation is the Songstress + Thief + Psychic DS combination that allows you to pass over Traps without setting them off. Unfortunately, 2 of these 3 DS are otherwise useless wastes of inventory space. Equip this combo long enough to build a Stealth Cape, then discard the Songstress and Psychic DS. Keep this Accessory equipped at all times and you will actually feel your stress level diminishing as the game suddenly becomes much more enjoyable. Two types of Traps (see below) will compromise items in your inventory. This status can only be removed with the Alchemist's "Item Esuna" ability. My advice is to keep an Alchemist DS in inventory until you get the above combination of DS necessary for the Evade Traps ability. Once you build yourself a Stealth Cape, you can discard the Alchemist DS. Below is a list of Traps, what they do, and why I hate them. Biospray -- Inflicts Poison until it wears off (about 6 turns.) Aggravating to be sure but not lethal. Bomb's Wrath -- Puts a timed Bomb on one of your items. If you do not remove that Bomb with the Alchemist's Item Esuna ability, after a certain number of turns that item will explode and disappear. I guess that's one way to free up space in your inventory -- just not a recommended one. Boo! Tile -- Takes random items from your inventory and spreads them around the room. You can pick them up and reclaim them unless, of course, you step on a Pit Trap in the process, in which case all unclaimed items are lost forever. Cursed Seal -- Causes one random item from your inventory to be Cursed. Cursed items cannot be used and Cursed DS cannot be equipped or unequipped. Cursed items can be cured using the Alchemist's Item Esuna ability or by reading a Cursebreaking Folio. NOTE: Although Cursed items cannot be used, they CAN be sold in Shops. So, if one of your equipped DS gets Cursed -- especially if it is Level 1 or 2 -- and you have no means to remove the Curse, you can sell it off at a Shop, thereby unequipping it! Nefarious Pit -- Unequips all DS. You can, of course re-equip all of these in a single turn. This is really only a problem if you get attacked before you can re-equip. Again, this Trap is annoying but probably not fatal. Pit Trap -- Causes you to fall down to the previous floor. This is the absolute worst. Once I was literally 2 steps from getting on an elevator when I stepped on a Pit Trap. Before I could find the elevator to get back up, I stepped on another Pit Trap and regressed yet another floor. These things are really -- well -- the pits. Plummet -- Damages YRP's HP. If you are using Doom a lot and fail to replenish YRP's HP regularly, this can cause you to be ejected from the Tower. This is a good argument for keeping up with YRP's HP at all times. Sticky Trap -- Immobilizes you for 6 turns. You'd think that this wouldn't be much of a problem, but here is a counterexample. Once I got caught in a Sticky Trap and thought, "Hey -- no big deal." After one turn, a Cactuar spawned right next to me. Before I could kill it, the Cactuar's X-Needles attack wiped out my main DS. Bad luck? Sure. Irritating? Extremely. Trampoline -- Launches you into a different room on the same floor. I especially love seeing these on those tiles in front of doorways leading to the elevator. You have no way to go forward without getting flung back further away from your destination. Truly annoying. Wind Slash -- Does mild damage to all equipped DS and to YRP. After about F20, the damage is hardly noticeable. On lower floors when your HP are low and healing is at a premium, this can be more of a problem. ****************************************************************************** * XII. Stones (LM12) * ****************************************************************************** While navigating the Tower, you will encounter 2 types of stones -- regular gray-colored ones and gold-colored ones. Both appear as red squares on your map, although neither can attack you or do you any damage. Gold stones can appear in any room but never in hallways. Attack them with your weapon and your gil will increase by 1 for every HP damage you do to them. Each gold stone appears to have a maximum number of HP, but that number seems to increase as you ascend the Tower. You do not earn AP for defeating a gold stone, and there is never an item underneath one. Gray stones may appear in any room or hallway. Each time you attack one, you do 1 HP damage, regardless of your PA stat. All gray stones (except those in Secret Rooms) have 9 HP. Defeating one earns you 1 AP but no EXP. In hallways, these stones are just barriers that need to be removed to continue. In rooms, you will often see an elevator beneath one, so the stone is basically just blocking your access to that elevator (as well as your ability to see the elevator on your map.) However, gray stones that are in rooms but not on top of elevators nearly always have an item hidden underneath, so be sure to - well - leave no stone unturned. ****************************************************************************** * XIII. Shops (LM13) * ****************************************************************************** There are 2 types of shops in the Last Mission -- Item Shops and Dress Shops. Dress Shops sell DS and can ONLY be accessed by finding and using a Dress Shop Guide Folio as described in the section below on Inventory Control. At any one time, perhaps 6 DS are available for sale, all either Level 1 or Level 2. Item Shops can be accessed 2 ways: 1) Find and use a Shop Guide Folio. 2) At random times when taking an elevator, you will stop at an Item Shop between floors. Interestingly, the locations of these shops are designated with "0.5" floor levels. For example, if you go to an item shop on your way from F32 to F33, that shop will show "F32.5" as its location (indicated in the upper left corner of the screen.) Items available in Item Shops vary considerably. Generally, you can buy certain Folios and Potions but not DS or Accessories. The exception to this rule concerns an Accessory called the "Special Pass." If you have this Accessory equipped when you land in an Item Shop, certain expensive but exotic Accessories may appear. Most of these, by the way, are useless. When you need them, they are out of your price range, and when you can afford them you no longer need them. While in an Item Shop you may sell items you possess or you may buy items, but you cannot manipulate your inventory in any way. For example, if you have 2 similar DS and a Dress Fusion Secrets Folio, you cannot Fuse those DS while in the shop. Also, you do not have access to the descriptions of items either in your inventory or for sale. You just have to know what everything is and does. You can only buy one of any given item. For example, if the shop happens to have an Enhancing Potion for sale and you buy it (as well you should!) that spot in the item shop list goes blank, indicating that you cannot buy another during that visit. Of course, another might appear the next time that you visit an item shop. Also, as earlier described, you cannot then drink that potion to free up an inventory slot. You have to wait until you exit the shop and progress to the next floor before you can drink that potion. ****************************************************************************** * XIV. Accessories and Auto-Abilities (LM14) * ****************************************************************************** The game offers you a wealth of different Accessories that instill various auto-abilities. Your character can only equip up to 2 Accessories at a time. Accessories come from 3 main sources: * Some can be purchased in Item Shops. * Some can be stolen from the Founder. * Some can be created by gaining AP while certain combinations of DS are equipped. Accessories in Item Shops are relatively rare. As previously mentioned, there is an Accessory called "Special Pass" that makes some rare Accessories appear in shops. However, since access to shops is so unpredictable and random, I'm not sure that you want to tie up an inventory slot with this item. The bottom line is that you shouldn't depend on item shops for Accessories. For the record, the following 4 Accessories are available in Item Shops as rare items and are not available elsewhere. Growth Seed -- Doubles AP earned in battles. Magic Lip Gloss -- Restores HP while walking. Safety Pouch -- Protects items from Bomb's Wrath Traps. Sharp Spectacles -- Lets you see the positions of all items on the current floor. I consider all of these Accessories to be worthless overpriced garbage, but hey -- it's your gil so spend it as you see fit. There are also Accessories that are only available by using the Dig Ability, which can only be used when Yuna is your character and her primary DS is Trainer. Once, by Digging, I obtained a "Fire King's Ring," which "Absorbs fire damage and restores HP," and in later runs I unearthed an "Ice Spirit Ring" that absorbs Ice damage and "Lightning Dragon Ring" that absorbs Lightning damage. Stealing from the Founder can yield some items that can be created using AP as well as a couple of Accessories that can only be obtained from the Founder. To the best of my knowledge the 3 Accessories available only from the Founder are: Triple Tiara -- Allows you to attack THREE times in every turn. This is the single best Accessory in the game and is not to be missed. It is available for sure on F44 and possibly on F66 as well. For details, please refer to the Walkthrough section. Valkyrie Nails -- Increases the chances of critical hits. This is available on numerous floors. Early in the game and late in the game when you have plenty of space in your inventory, this might be worth having, but I wouldn't advise carrying one through the middle portion of the Tower when space is at a premium. Ace Gloves -- Doubles the damage from Thrown objects. Ugh! What a waste of space. Sell these when you get a chance. When the right combination of DS is equipped, your character has the given Auto-Ability. For example, as long as you have Dark Knight + Trainer + Samurai equipped, you have the "Doomproof" ability. In addition, while that combination is equipped, the AP earned by defeating enemies goes towards creating an Accessory that bestows the same ability. Once you gain enough AP to create the Accessory, you can either discard an unwanted DS and just use the Accessory when you need the ability or you can keep the DS and discard (or just never pick up) the Accessory. Even though I said at the outset that this guide was not about lists, I consider the list below to be valuable enough that it is worth including. The list below shows all 41 Auto-Abilities in the game; the DS combination that bestows each Auto-Ability; the Accessory that bestows the Auto-Ability; and how many AP are necessary to create the Accessory. The table is alphabetized by the Auto-Ability name. So if, for example, you are about to face a slew of enemies such as Protean Gels that cast Blizzard, use the table to see that if you equip Berserker + Songstress, you will be immune to ice attacks. Very handy indeed! Most of the Ability names I would consider to be self-explanatory. The exceptions to this rule are marked with ( ) and are explained underneath the table. Abbreviations Used for DS AL = Alchemist FE = Festivalist MA = Mascot TH = Thief BE = Berserker GM = Gun Mage PS = Psychic TR = Trainer BM = Black Mage GU = Gunner SA = Samurai WA = Warrior DK = Dark Knight LL = Lady Luck SO = Songstress WM = White Mage *************************************************************************** * DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP * *************************************************************************** * DK | SA | WA | 50% Discount | VIP Card | 70 * *************************************************************************** * GM | SO | | Accuracy Training(1) | Third Eye Rune | 50 * *************************************************************************** * FE | TH | | Berserkproof | Flower Hairpin | 40 * *************************************************************************** * DK | GU | | Confuseproof | Rune of Sanity | 55 * *************************************************************************** * FE | LL | | Curse Guard | Hex Ward | 40 * *************************************************************************** * FE | SA | | Darkproof | Radiant Mascara | 55 * *************************************************************************** * DK | GM | | Darktouch | Dusk Choker | 60 * *************************************************************************** * SO | WA | | Defeat to Heal HP | Asuran Seal | 65 * *************************************************************************** * FE | GU | | Defeat to Heal MP | Larva Claw | 75 * *************************************************************************** * BE | TH | | Defensive Training | Fighter Headband | 50 * *************************************************************************** * TH | TR | | Detect All Traps | Trap Sensor | 75 * *************************************************************************** * AL | MA | | Detect Enemies | Moongoggles | 40 * *************************************************************************** * BM | LL | | Detect Nearby Traps | Ninja's Comb | 50 * *************************************************************************** * DK | SA | TR | Doomproof | Longevity Charm | 60 * *************************************************************************** * FE | PS | | Double Gil | Sure Hands | 50 * *************************************************************************** * DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP * *************************************************************************** * AL | SO | | Dress Guard(2) | Body Chains | 40 * *************************************************************************** * PS | SO | TH | Evade Traps | Stealth Cape | 75 * *************************************************************************** * LL | MA | | Evasion Training | Steel Sandals | 50 * *************************************************************************** * GU | WM | | Fireproof | Extinguisher Hood | 30 * *************************************************************************** * SA | TH | | Gil for Damage | Thrifty Purse | 60 * *************************************************************************** * GU | PS | | Gil for EXP | Silver Spoon | 60 * *************************************************************************** * MA | SA | | Gil Guard | Purse String | 40 * *************************************************************************** * PS | SA | | Grace Under Pressure(3) | Swan Feather | 45 * *************************************************************************** * GM | MA | WM | Half Damage | Soldier's Bandana | 87 * *************************************************************************** * MA | TR | WM | HP Heal Over Time | Bandage | 65 * *************************************************************************** * BE | SO | | Iceproof | Heating Pad | 30 * *************************************************************************** * PS | WA | | Immobileproof | Windy Pedicure | 40 * *************************************************************************** * BE | PS | WA | Impenetrable Front | Armored Vest | 97 * *************************************************************************** * BM | TR | | Lightningproof | Lightning Rod | 30 * *************************************************************************** * AL | BM | | Magic Defense Training | Spirit Emblem | 50 * *************************************************************************** * DS1 | DS2 | DS3 | Auto-Ability | Accessory | AP * *************************************************************************** * DK | WM | | Magic Training | Witch Earrings | 50 * *************************************************************************** * AL | GM | GU | Marksman(4) | Sniper Cuffs | 75 * *************************************************************************** * GM | TR | | MP Cost Protection(5) | Fiendlord Sigil | 40 * *************************************************************************** * BM | DK | GM | MP Heal Over Time | Waxing Moonstone | 75 * *************************************************************************** * TR | WA | | Physical Training | Wristband | 50 * *************************************************************************** * BE | WM | | Poisontouch | Viper Fang | 70 * *************************************************************************** * FE | MA | | Secret Items(6) | Special Pass | 60 * *************************************************************************** * GU | LL | TH | Shoplift(7) | Thief's Card | 75 * *************************************************************************** * BM | SO | | Silenceproof | Megaphone | 40 * *************************************************************************** * AL | BE | | Sleepproof | Vigilance Sash | 55 * *************************************************************************** * LL | WM | | Slowproof | Fairy Socks | 55 * *************************************************************************** (1) Accuracy Training means that having this Accessory equipped makes YRP's Accuracy stat more likely to increase on level-ups. Ditto for all other Abilities containing the word, "Training." (2) Prevents DS from being Removed, e.g., by Boo Traps. (3) Deal double damage when HP are critical. (4) Attacks never miss. (5) Protects against Double MP Cost status effect. (6) Shops will have rare items for sale. (7) Chance of stealing items when leaving a Shop. For me, there are 2 must-have Accessories that can be made by accruing AP. They are as follows: * Mascot + Gun Mage + White Mage = Soldier's Bandana (1/2 damage) * Songstress + Thief + Psychic = Stealth Cape (Evade all Traps) The following 2 Accessories are highly desirable but are optional depending on what your primary DS is. Please read the last paragraph in this section for an explanation: * Dark Knight + Gunner = Rune of Sanity (Confuseproof) * Dark Knight + Trainer + Samurai = Longevity Charm (Doomproof) For the record, the Longevity Charm can also be stolen from the Founder. You should be aware that when an Accessory is created, that Accessory is NOT automatically added to your inventory. Instead, the Accessory will simply drop on the ground nearby. It will show up as a white square on your map, and a message will appear in the text box alerting you that it has been made. It is important to monitor both the map and the text box, because otherwise you might miss an Accessory that you spent several floors creating. From my experience, created Accessories blend in with the floor awfully well, and it is very easy to overlook them. Additionally -- this may seem really obvious -- but Accessories don't work unless you Equip them. To do so, select the item from your inventory and choose Equip. Simple, right? Well for some reason, on my first run, I believed that as long as an Accessory was in my inventory that I received its protection. I had made my Longevity Charm and even remembered to pick it up, and was strolling merrily through rooms full of Doom-casting enemies, confident in my immunity to their diabolical attacks. Imagine my surprise the first time I saw that counter over my head counting down! Be smarter than I was and Equip your Accessories. My usual strategy for Accessories runs something like this: * In the early floors, I try to make a Soldier's Bandana. Healing is at a premium and your character will be especially weak. This Accessory can help you survive. Once you have the Accessory, dump the Gun Mage DS unless you have decided to use it as your primary DS or want it for other Abilities. * Next, if at all possible, use your AP to make a Stealth Cape. Keep it equipped continuously until the end of the game and you will enjoy the game immeasurably more. * Round up the DS for Confuseproof next and have them equipped by F17, which is the first floor where you can get Confused. However, I'm not sure that it is necessary to actually create a Rune of Sanity. See the paragraph below for explanation. * By F25, have the DS for Doomproof, as you will encounter enemies that will Doom you. Again, I'm not convinced that you need an actual Longevity Charm because you may find it more efficient to just keep the necessary DS in inventory. * On F44, steal a Triple Tiara from the Founder, and keep it equipped as much as possible. At this point you can probably unload your Soldier's Bandana. Your HP will be high enough that you can withstand some damage, and with 3 attacks per turn, your enemies won't be hitting you much anyway. Besides that, your 2 Accessory slots will be filled with your Stealth Cape and your Triple Tiara, so you'll have nowhere to equip the Soldier's Bandana anyway. * After you get the Tonberry Treasures on F61, if you happen to steal a Valkyrie Nails from the Founder, you should consider keeping it. This accessory can be helpful in the final battles, and at that point you should have plenty of room in your inventory. Let me give you an example of the trade-off between getting an ability from your equipped DS and getting it from an Accessory. You probably want protection against Confusion available for when you encounter enemies that can Confuse you. Using an Accessory occupies one slot in your inventory and also uses one of only two available slots for Accessories. You can get the same ability from equipping Dark Knight + Gunner. I never use the Gunner as my primary DS, but I ALWAYS have a Dark Knight available, primarily for its Doom ability. So, by using DS for this ability, I still use one extra inventory slot (for the Gunner DS), but instead of using one of only 2 Accessory slots, I use one of 5 available DS slots and can just equip the Gunner DS when I know Confusing enemies are imminent. As a bonus, the Gunner DS will increase ACC and PD stats. By contrast, the Evade Traps ability requires Songstress + Thief + Psychic. As a rule, I only keep one of these 3 DS (Thief) around, primarily for its Steal Item ability. Thus, using DS takes up 2 additional inventory slots. By using the Stealth Cape Accessory instead, I use one less inventory slot. Moreover, Evade Traps is an ability that I want at ALL times (except when fighting Bosses), so I can just keep that Accessory equipped and ditch the 2 junk DS required for the ability. Again, I'm not necessarily trying to espouse a particular philosophy about which DS or Accessories to use. Rather, I'm trying to illustrate how to decide between using DS and using Accessories for an ability. Since there are only 2 Accessory slots -- and there are usually obvious choices for these slots -- my current mindset is to keep my inventory of Accessories to a minimum and use inventory space for DS instead. One of those 2 slots should ALWAYS be allocated for your Stealth Cape so that Traps don't drive you crazy. From F44 on, the other should almost always be dedicated to the Triple Tiara. This means that you are going to need to keep around the DS necessary for other Auto-Abilities and just shuffle your DS to adjust for the enemies on any given floor. For most runs, the only other Auto-Ability that you absolutely must have is Doomproof since Doom is unavoidable and incurable. Getting Confused is annoying, but survivable. No other status effects are really deadly, so carrying Accessories to prevent them is generally not a good use of space. ****************************************************************************** * XV. Items (LM15) * ****************************************************************************** Aside from Accessories, there are 3 types of items in the Last Mission -- Potions, Dresspheres, and Folios (books). First I'll describe these items in general, then in the next section I'll make suggestions about which to prioritize in your inventory. POTIONS Potions are the green bottles you see on the floors of rooms. They are generally divided into 2 types -- good and bad. Good potions cure status ailments, boost levels, restore HP and MP, and the like. Bad potions reduce levels or inflict status ailments. I cannot see any possible use for potions that reduce levels. In theory, it would appear that potions that inflict status ailments are intended to be thrown at enemies, thus inflicting that ailment on them. My advice is to never ever pick up bad potions. Bad potions are like personal handguns -- they are far more likely to harm the owner than they are to harm an enemy. First of all, they seem to have little effect on enemies (enemies inflicted with Dark, for example, still seem to connect with Physical Attacks just fine.) Moreover if you happen to get Confused and these bad potions are in your inventory, you very well might drink one. The bottom line is to let these things be. If you pick one up, put it back down immediately. Most good potions are not good enough to warrant one of your 20 precious inventory slots. However, you can consume them immediately to get their benefits without tying up inventory space. While standing on the item, hit Triangle, then choose Check > (Potion) > Drink. Very handy! In the early floors (up to about F20), you may want to carry a potion or two to restore MP. Your maximum MP will be rather low, and you will need MP for Stealing and for recovering HP. Otherwise, the only exception to the rule of not carrying potions is Elixir, which completely restores HP and MP to YRP and to all of your DS. Keep one on hand for emergencies. Otherwise, either consume potions immediately or leave them behind. You have more important uses for your inventory space. DRESSPHERES The yellow balls you see lying around in rooms are DS. Any DS you find in a room or in a Store will be either Level 1 or Level 2. Level 4 DS can be stolen from the Founder. A Lady Luck Level 15 DS can be found in a Secret Room. As far as I know, these are the only Levels in which DS occur before Fusing. There are 2 main reasons to pick up and carry a DS: 1) You need to equip that DS for an ability or to create an Accessory. 2) You want to Fuse that DS with another like DS to boost levels. This is usually only something you want to do with DS that you will have equipped long-term, such as your primary DS. For some reason, you cannot fuse a DS that is equipped. Thus, every time you want to upgrade an equipped DS you have to unequip it, upgrade it, and then re- equip it. Make sure that you are in a safe place when you do this. You don't want to be attacked when you have a Level 1 Psychic temporarily equipped as your primary DS instead of, say, a Level 16 Samurai. Unless you meet condition 1) or 2) above, leave DS alone. In the next section, I'll give you some guidance about which DS you probably want to keep. FOLIOS Folios are the books that you see lying around in rooms. Folios will have a number in parentheses after their title, such as "Save Memo(2)." This means that you can use this ability twice. After using it once, it will change to "Save Memo(1)," and after a second use it will disappear from your inventory. Some Folios are crucial to the development of your character, and others are crap. In the next section, I'll identify those Folios that warrant your consideration. ****************************************************************************** * XVI. Inventory Control (LM16) * ****************************************************************************** I would like to repeat that the most challenging element of the game is that your total inventory is limited to 20 spaces. This includes all DS, Accessories, Potions, and Folios. Managing these 20 spaces is a constant juggling act of prioritizing your immediate needs while preparing for your long-term needs. Here is my list of Items to prioritize in your inventory. I am well aware that there are more than 20 items in this list, but it is not necessary to possess all of these items simultaneously. I will try to also give you guidelines for when it is okay to ditch a seemingly high-priority item. PRIORITY POTIONS There is only one Potion that you need to carry in inventory, and that is an Elixir for emergencies. You may need to carry ethers for the first 20 floors or so -- especially F13 - F16 when you will need lots of Magic so that you can steal from Protean Gels -- but otherwise don't carry ethers -- use them as you encounter them. Likewise, you will want to use all level-raising Potions immediately. PRIORITY DRESSPHERES The first 3 DS listed (and marked with **) are indispensable and deserve inventory space from whenever you find them until you defeat the final boss. **Thief -- Allows you to steal from the Founder and from enemies. If you choose Rikku as your character, you get this automatically. I would definitely do so and keep a Thief DS from the beginning of the game to the end. **White Mage -- Has the Curaga and Esuna abilities and is necessary for 1/2 Damage ability and Accessory. Again, I would keep this one around always, even if you only equip it when you need it. With a White Mage in your inventory, your need to carry healing Folios diminishes quickly as YRP levels up and you gain more MP. As you get more accustomed to the game, you find that your need for a White Mage diminishes as you will learn to take less and less damage, but until then, it is comforting to have access to one. **Black Mage -- The Black Mage's Magic attack is the single most effective way of eliminating Cactuars. It hits from up to 3 squares away and its accuracy is 100%. With even a modest MA stat, many enemies are wiped out with a single Magic attack. The rest of these DS may or may not be in your inventory long-term. Gun Mage -- Necessary for the 1/2 Damage ability and Accessory. Once the Accessory is created, you can dump this DS unless you want it for your primary DS. Mascot -- Necessary for the 1/2 Damage ability and Accessory. Mascot also has the Mini-Demi ability which is handy for dealing with bosses, especially on your first run. On subsequent runs, I would ditch this DS as soon as the Soldier's Bandana Accessory is made. Gunner -- Necessary for Confuseproof, which you will want by F17. Dark Knight -- Necessary for the Doomproof, Confuseproof, and MP Heal Over Time Auto-Abilities. Its Doom attack, while not the preferred way of dispatching enemies, works on almost all enemies and hits from a safe distance. Dark Knight is one of your most versatile DS, and I am rarely without one. Samurai -- A top choice for your primary DS and necessary for Doomproof. Samurai also makes a great secondary DS as it increases PA, EVA, and MD, a great combo of stats. Trainer -- Necessary for Doomproof. Depending on whether or not you want to keep a Samurai DS around, you may want to equip this instead of the Doomproof Accessory. Trainer is also a great secondary DS as it boosts PA, MD, and ACC. Songstress -- Necessary for the Evade Traps ability and Accessory. You should definitely make the Accessory and then decide if you want to keep the DS. Songstress has the rather interesting Change Out ability that, for 2 MP, allows you to change characters. For example, if you're playing as Rikku, then you can switch to either Yuna or Paine. All items and stats remain the same. This may seem a pointless waste of MP, but there are at least 3 reasons you would want this ability: 1) Maybe 40% of the time that you use this ability, you will get the message, "Changing characters has granted a perk." This means that a new item has appeared somewhere on the floor that you currently occupy. Often, these items are crap or are so far away as to be inaccessible. However, I have had Growth Tonics (+2 levels!) drop right at my feet which, you'll have to admit, is pretty awesome. There seems to be a maximum of about 5 items per floor from using this ability. 2) Change Out allows you to get maximum benefit from your Black Mage DS which, as previously mentioned, you will ALWAYS want to have on hand. As previously described, The Black Mage has 3 elemental attacking spells, but each of these is only available to one character. Only Rikku can cast Thundaga; only Yuna can cast Firaga; and only Paine can case Blizzaga. So, for example, if you encounter an enemy such as a Bomb that is clearly Fire- based, you would hopefully know better than to attack it with Yuna's Firaga spell. However, if you Change Out to Paine, you can hit it with Blizzaga, to which it is weak. 3) The Trainer DS also has unique abilities depending on whether you are playing as Yuna, Rikku, or Paine. Only Paine can command her pet to steal EXP; only Rikku can command her pet to steal an item while attacking; and only Yuna can command her pet to dig up an item. Since EXP is plentiful anyway, Paine's ability is of questionable use. Rikku's Mug ability can be useful against Protean Gels, who often carry Dress Fusion Secrets Folios, but otherwise isn't a lot of help. However, some very useful items -- including Copying Techniques, the best item in the game -- can be unearthed by using Yuna's Dig command. Be aware that these abilities are only available if Trainer is equipped as your primary (Basic) DS. The bottom line is that if you have a spare item slot, you should consider carrying a Songstress DS whenever possible. If you need the space, just dump it without regret and pick up the next one that comes your way. Psychic -- Same as Songstress. Make the Accessory and then dump the DS. Alchemist -- The only reason I can see to keep an Alchemist is to have the Item Esuna ability. If you step on a Trap that either Curses an item or plants a bomb on it, you will need this ability to liberate that item. Once you have your Stealth Cape, you can dump this DS. Okay -- that's 12 useful DS, but you can use and discard 6 of them, thereby tying up only 6 inventory slots in the long term. You can afford that. PRIORITY FOLIOS This is where things get tricky. There are lots of great Folios, some of which you're going to have to carry around for a LONG time. Remember to trade up whenever possible. For example, if you are carrying a Basic Healing(2) Folio and find an Essence of Healing(2) Folio, dump the former and pick up the latter. I definitely would not carry more than one healing Folio at a time except possibly at the very beginning of the game. If you find a lesser healing Folio, use it and then leave it behind. If you find a better one, use the lesser one to heal as much as necessary before leaving it behind and picking up the better one. Here are my picks for the most important Folios: Copying Techniques -- The single best item in the game. It is available immediately prior to entering the Tonberry Room and by using Yuna's Dig command when she has Trainer equipped as her primary DS. Its awesomeness and use are described in the Walkthrough portion of this guide, but do whatever is necessary to make room for this incomparable gift. Interesting discovery -- I originally thought that you could only get one Copying Techniques (2) Folio per game, but in a recent run, I actually got 2 of them! I'm not sure that I know what caused this to happen, but I can recall the sequence of events for you. First, I followed my own advice (see WF61-F65) and got this Folio by the usual method. I then continued to go to Secret Rooms until I got the Lady Luck Level 15 DS from the Hexapod Special Room and the Dress Fusion Secrets (9) Folio from the Cactuar Special Room. I continued as usual until I got to F76, where I found a Finding Secret Rooms(2) Folio. When I used this, it returned me to the elevator room that has exits to the O. X, and Triangle Special Rooms. I went in the direction that leads to the Tonberry Room elevator, and there at the entrance to that room -- exactly where I found the first one -- was another Copying Techniques(2) Folio! When I returned to this room a third time, the entrance to that room was empty, i.e., there was no third copy of this Folio. I will investigate further on my next run and see if I can repeat this process and find exactly what circumstances are necessary to make the second copy appear. Notebook -- Allows you to copy (almost) any Folio. Thus, if you have a Notebook(2) and a Dressmaker(1), you can copy the Dressmaker onto both pages of your Notebook and turn it into a Dressmaker(2) so that you now have 3 Dressmaker abilities. Unfortunately, you cannot use a Notebook to copy the Copying Techniques Folio. As a rule, use Notebooks to duplicate Dressmaker or Dress Fusion Secrets Folios, as these are your keys to developing your character. However, you may need to use one to copy a Finding Secret Rooms folio if you can't find 3 through conventional means. Never pass up a Notebook -- it is a Folio Wild Card. Dressmaker -- Allows you to make a Level 1 DS of any type. Absolutely crucial for raising the levels of your DS. Never leave one of these behind. In fact, it's not a bad idea to always carry one of these in inventory rather than use your last one. This way, if you find a Notebook, you will have one to copy. Dress Fusion Secrets -- Necessary for upgrading your DS. This is often the limiting factor in the development of your DS collection. You can steal these from Protean Gels (F13 - F16) and Amorphous Gels (F70 - F71), buy them from Item Shops, or find them in rooms. This is a very high priority item, so carry all that you can. Also remember to trade up. If you have a Dress Fusions(1) and find a Dress Fusions(2) but cannot carry both, dump the (1) and pick up the (2). Finding Secret Rooms -- You will need 3 of these to access the Tonberry Room and earn your Copying Techniques Folio. A fourth one will allow you to get a Dress Fusion Secrets(9) Folio (!), and a fifth one can yield you a level 15 Lady Luck DS. Hold on to these like grim death, as they are extremely rare but extremely helpful. Save Memo -- Allows you to Save when using an elevator. You will need at least 2 of these to access the Tonberry Room without going insane. After you get 2 (hopefully in the same Folio so that you're only using one inventory slot), I'd advise leaving all others behind. If you are stealing from the Founder (as you should be) you can't use these anyway, and you can still Save for free on every 5th floor. Hope--A Memoir - This is an insurance policy for your primary DS as it acts similar to the "Auto-Life" ability. If one of your DS gets wiped out, this Folio automatically restores it. You do not even have to equip this to get the ability -- just have one in your inventory. This provides a nice safety cushion, especially on floors that have Cactuars or enemies that cast Doom or Damnation. I would carry one at all times and trade up any time you encounter one with more pages than the one you are currently carrying. Fleeing Manual -- This Folio allows you to teleport to the room that contains the elevator. Although carrying one of these is a luxury, to be sure, having one in my inventory always makes me braver about venturing to far-away rooms to kill enemies and accumulate EXP. These are especially useful on those last few floors that seem to be considerably more spread out than their lower counterparts (although from an engineering standpoint, wouldn't it be more logical for the floors of the tower to get progressively smaller, lest the structure become top-heavy?) Video game physics aside, I will usually carry one of these when I can but dispose of it with few regrets if something better comes along to take its space in inventory. Shop Guide and Dress Shop Guide -- These are unusual items that teleport you to the indicated Shop. The Dress Shop Guide is the ONLY way to access a store that sells DS. The bad news is that only about a half dozen randomly chosen DS are available at any given time. It is possible to use all 3 pages of a Dress Shop Guide(3) without ever seeing a DS that you need. Likewise with the Item Shop. It seems that they are always selling Dress Fusion Secrets(2) when you have a ton of them in inventory, but they are never selling them when you need them. You can use Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides to repeat floors thereby milking extra items and EXP from the game. Here's how: Pick up the Folio and clear the floor of all useful items. Then use the Folio to go to the Shop and buy anything useful that you can squeeze into your inventory. When you exit the Shop you will go to a new floor with the same number as the one that you left but with new layout and items. Then just repeat the process. Hopefully, you can buy/find some DS and Dress Fusion Secrets to upgrade your DS collection while gaining some EXP by whacking additional enemies. The same basic process works with Finding Secret Rooms Folios, although I would advise against doing this before you attain the Tonberry Room circa F61 (see Walkthrough for explanation.) With Secret Rooms, you can even use a Save Folio before returning to the Tower proper. I've spent literally hours on a single floor, picking up some really useful items and gaining several levels in the process. Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides can also be used in much the same way as Fleeing Manuals. If you find yourself a long ways away from the elevator when you get your first message that the Founder is near (see next section), you can just read one of these Folios to keep from getting booted from the Tower. Most other Folios are either total crap or otherwise do not merit a spot in your inventory. Remember that Folios, like Potions, can be used without being picked up. Again, start with Triangle and go through the Check menu. For example, the Bedtime Stories Folio (puts all enemies in a room to sleep) can be really useful if you find one in a room that contains many enemies. Read the Folio, thereby putting all enemies to sleep, and then mop them up one by one - all without using any inventory space. ****************************************************************************** * XVII. The Founder (LM17) * ****************************************************************************** If you stay too long on any floor (except those that are multiples of 20), the Founder will appear. This is both good and bad. The good news is that you can Steal some very useful items from him if you plan ahead and act very cautiously. The bad news is that if you aren't careful, the Founder can kick you out of the Tower, forcing you to either reset your game or start over from F1. I read this information before beginning my inaugural run through the Tower, and I recall being so afraid of the Founder that I avoided him at all costs. Having gained some experience, though, my strategy now is to encounter him at every possible opportunity and Steal from him every chance I get. Often you will get items that you don't really need, but the chances of getting booted from the Tower are very slim unless you are half asleep. You also need the Founder to transport you from F77 to F80 for the final Boss battle, but we'll discuss that when we get there. The items that you can steal from the Founder are generally rather random, and you can end up with some useless items like Ace Gloves, Tidying Up Folios, and Goon Bookmark Folios. However, you can also get Level 4 DS, and if those happen to be DS that are in your preferred setup, you can bump up their levels by 4 with a single Dress Fusion Secrets Folio! You can also get great items like Enhancing Potions, Evolutionary Waters, and Dressmaker Folios. The time investment is minimal and the returns are variable, but the good items make this a worthwhile undertaking. Next, I'll detail for you how to steal from the Founder. I hasten to add that as many times as I've done this and as tricky as I know that this process can be, I still screw it up about one time out of 10. On any floor, you have only one chance to Steal from the Founder, so you have to make it count. My point is that you should not take this process for granted, so follow the directions below carefully. I should also add that if you steal from the Founder, then you will not be able to access your items until after you use the elevator. Thus, unless you are on a floor that is a multiple of 5, you cannot Save after Stealing because you won't have access to your Save Memo items. 1) As soon as you have completed your business on a given floor, head to the room with the elevator and wipe out any enemies that lurk within. If any further enemies spawn in that room, take them out as well. 2) I strongly advise you to have the Stealth Cape equipped so that you don't activate any Traps. You know how I feel about Traps. 3) Make sure that you have at least one empty slot in your inventory. If your inventory is full, you will not be able to Steal successfully. 4) Make sure that you have a Thief DS equipped. 5) Make sure that you have at least 3 MP for the Steal Item ability. 6) Once you are prepared, run back and forth in the room to use up turns. Eventually a message will appear in the text box that reads, "Eerie laughter rings out from afar..." This is the first of 3 messages that you will receive about the Founder's presence. 7) Now limit your movement to no more than ONE square away from the elevator. When the Founder appears, you want to be ON the elevator, and he can appear very quickly. 8) Within 20 turns or so, you will see a message in the text box that reads, "The eerie laughter is coming closer..." As soon as this happens, stand on the elevator and pass turns (Select + Circle) until you get the third message, "An intense aura can be felt from somewhere on this floor!" 9) Once this third message appears SLOW DOWN! The Founder is about to appear, and when he does, he materializes very slowly, often right next to you. If you pass turns too quickly, he will materialize and then attack you before you have a chance to steal. 10) Pass turns at about 5 -second intervals. Every time you pass a turn, look on the map. The Founder will appear on the map in the elevator room as a red square, but again, he materializes very slowly. 11) Once you have located the Founder, pass turns very slowly and track his progress as he makes his way to you. When he is standing one square away from you, make sure that you are facing in the proper direction and then execute your Steal Item ability. 12) The Founder will then attack you, turning you into a Goon. Use the elevator immediately to avoid getting hit again and ejected from the Tower. Passing turns is boring and causes you to lose your focus. Have laser-like concentration from the time that the second message appears, and you will successfully acquire some very useful items. Instead of actually passing turns (Select + Circle), you might consider executing fake attacks. While standing on the elevator, hit the X button and watch the map. The blue area that indicates your possible range of attack will go away and then reappear when you can take another turn. When the Founder appears, there will be a noticeable pause before that blue area reappears. You should then see a new red square on the map, indicating the Founder's location. ****************************************************************************** * XVIII. Tower Climbing for Fun and Profit (LM18) * ****************************************************************************** Your overall plan should look something like this: Comb every corner of every floor thoroughly for treasure. Add desired items and toss lesser items as you go. You also want to kill as many enemies as you possibly can (thus maximizing EXP) and still get to the elevator before the Founder appears. Don't overdo the whole "harvesting enemies for EXP" thing. If you are even moderately attentive to gathering EXP, YRP's final level should be around 90, which is more than sufficient. Once you have covered every room on a floor twice, you should be thinking about sticking pretty close to the elevator room. If you are quite a ways away from the Elevator room when you get the first warning of the Founder's presence, don't panic because you do have a few options. Using a Fleeing Manual Folio is often your best option. However, remember that Shop Guides and Dress Shop Guides will also whisk you away and out of danger. All of these are handy Folios to keep around for such emergencies. If you have none of these, be especially cautious about how far you stray from the elevator room, particularly if you have been on a floor for a while. Finally, here are a couple of basic things to keep in mind. 1) First of all, don't be in any hurry. The journey is more important than the destination. 2) Try to extract all valuables that you can from each floor. Be sure to examine each treasure on every floor so that you don't miss any chances to build up your character. 3) It is good to have a plan, but throughout the game you are going to have to stay flexible. You may decide going in that you want your primary DS to be Samurai, but if you get a Level 4 Berserker from the Founder on F01, then that should be your primary DS at least for a while. In other words, keep an open mind and make the most of what the game offers you. 4) Above all, remember that games are supposed to be fun. Laugh at your setbacks and celebrate your turns of good fortune. Above all, enjoy your trek to the top of the Tower. ****************************************************************************** * XIX. Walkthrough (LM19) * ****************************************************************************** Before getting to the Tower itself, I should say a word about the storyline, and that word is "don't." If there is anything more annoying than the Traps inside the Tower, it is the feeble attempt at framing your quest within some kind of story. There are scenes at the beginning and end of the game and scattered throughout your climb to the top, but my advice is that if you wish to keep down whatever food you last ate, for the love of God do NOT listen to what passes for dialogue in these scenes. Without giving anything away, I can say that the girls bicker and bicker and then they bicker about WHY they bicker until you just want to pull the DVD out of your console and light it up with a blowtorch. Fortunately, all scenes can be skipped by hitting Start and then Square. Remember this sequence -- it could save your life. Watch the scenes and listen to the dialogue if you so choose, but don't say that you weren't warned. As you go, I'll give some guidance about things to watch for. For each floor, I'll list the enemies that you will encounter, and for each group of 5 floors, I will list the attacks and abilities of all enemies encountered. For the record, "PA (Slow)" means that an enemy's Physical Attack may inflict Slow on YRP. I will also identify abilities using the same classifications used in the game. The explanations of these classifications, copied verbatim from the game, are given below. (P) = Physical: Abilities that get stronger with higher physical attack. Does less damage to enemies with higher physical defense. Magic and magic defense are non-factors. (M) = Magic: Abilities that do more damage and have stronger effects with higher magic. Magic defense decreases damage. Physical attack and defense are non-factors. (D) = Double: Ability affected by both physical attack and magic. Both physical defense and magic defense affect its effectiveness. (-) = None: Stats do not affect the effectiveness of the ability. At the end of each section, I'll detail how to unlock the locked elevator. OK -- let's climb that Tower ****************************************************************************** * F01 - F10 (WF01-F10) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Choose Rikku as your starting character. * Steal from the Founder at every opportunity. * Try to gather Mascot + Gun Mage + White Mage for 1/2 damage auto-ability. * Try to gather Psychic + Songstress + Thief for Evade Traps auto-ability. * Beware of Lesser Drakes (F06 - F08) and their Fire-based attacks. They also have high Evasion and can be difficult to hit with physical attacks. Enemies Floor by Floor: F01 -- Coyote, Divebeak F02 -- Coyote, Divebeak F03 -- Coyote, Divebeak, Ahriman F04 -- Coyote, Divebeak, Ahriman F05 -- Ahriman, Lesser Drake, Sallet F06 -- Ahriman, Lesser Drake, Sallet F07 -- Lesser Drake, Sallet, Vespa F08 -- Lesser Drake, Sallet, Vespa F09 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Vespa F10 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Vespa Enemy Abilities: Coyote -- PA only. Divebeak -- PA only. Ahriman -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses Lesser Drake -- PA, Flame Breath(D) Sallet -- PA (Berserk) Vespa -- PA (Silence) Machina Hunter -- PA(MP x 2) Bully Cap -- (No PA), Thunder(M) Often in an RPG, the beginning is the hardest part. Your character is weak and you have very few resources for restoring lost HP or dealing with status effects. The Last Mission is no exception to this rule. For the first few floors, you will have very few DS and very few options for strengthening your character. You need to be especially cautious for a while and take advantage of any opportunities presented to you. Your first problem is that your starting DS has a paltry 25 - 30 HP and is very vulnerable. There will be at least one Healing book on the first floor or two, but you'd really like to have a bit more HP reserve. The easy solution is to steal Level 4 DS from the Founder before boarding the elevators. Be sure to choose Rikku as your starting character so that you have the Steal Item ability from the get-go, then just steal from the Founder as previously described every chance you get. A Level 4 DS will roughly triple your HP compared to a Level 1 DS. You may not get the specific DS you want, but YRP's stats will pull you through these first few floors. Of course, the item that you steal may not be a DS at all, but if it is, your life will improve noticeably. Until you get that HP boost, though, learn the art of passing turns to lure enemies into your attack range so that you can strike first. You are likely to have minimal access to healing, so you need avoid unnecessary loss of life. Please refer to Section V if you don't understand the notion of passing turns. You can avoid enemies like Ahriman with long-range attacks by moving towards them so that you are not in line with them or by moving outside their peripheral vision. This takes some practice but is worth learning. The enemies shouldn't give you much trouble, except for Lesser Drakes (F5 - F8). These beasts are have a fire-based attack that covers a 4 x 4 grid in front of the critter. More annoying, their attack can even penetrate walls! If you are fortunate enough to have the Gunner + White Mage combination, you will be immune to their fire attacks, but good luck with that at this stage of the game. The Machina Hunter (F9 - F10) can hit you for 10 HP a pop and inflict MP x 2, causing you to expend double MP for 6 turns or so, but you probably won't be using MP anyway, so who really cares? Likewise, the Vespa (F7 - F10) can Silence you, but again, this is no issue if you aren't using MP. Bullycaps (F10 - F12 can be annoying because they pound you with Thunder attacks from up to 3 squares away. If you equip Black Mage + Trainer, you will be Lightningproof and will take zero damage from their attacks. In general, just collect everything you find, equip every DS you find (until you hit your maximum of 5), and don't get careless and lose HP unnecessarily. Unlocking the F05 Elevator -- Kill 3 enemies, then perform any action except moving. Unlocking the F10 Elevator -- Kill 10 enemies, then perform any action except moving. ****************************************************************************** * F11 - F15 (WF11-F15) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Steal Dress Fusion Secrets(2) from Protean Gels * Start building up your primary DS. * Make sure that you have a Black Mage or Dark Knight DS by F15. * Beware of Cactuars (F15 - 19)! Enemies Floor by Floor: F11 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Gecko F12 -- Machina Hunter, Bully Cap, Gecko F13 -- Protean Gel, Gecko F14 -- Protean Gel, Gecko F15 -- Protean Gel, Cactuar, White Fang Enemy Abilities: Machina Hunter -- PA (MP x 2) Bully Cap -- (No PA), Thunder(M) Gecko -- PA only Protean Gel -- (No PA), Blizzard(M) Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-) White Fang -- PA only On F13 - F15, you will encounter Protean Gels, which aren't nearly as fearsome as they are in FFX-2's main quest. They will pound you with Blizzard from up to 4 squares away until they run out of MP, and then are powerless. If you equip a Berserker + Songstress, you will have the Iceproof ability, and the Blizzard attacks will cause you no damage. Best of all, some of these enemies carry Dress Fusion Secrets (2), which can be stolen. Since these are often the limiting factors in the development of your main DS, stockpile all that you have room to carry. I would advise having at least 5 of these (2) Folios before exiting F16 and bidding farewell to Protean Gels forever. On F15, you will encounter your first Cactuars. For the uninformed, these are the scariest enemies in the game. They have high Evasion and consequently are hard to hit. Moreover, they have an attack called "X-Needles" that never misses and will wipe out your primary DS in one hit regardless of your levels and stats! A Cactuar can only launch this attack from a square adjacent to you, so you generally want to avoid getting too close. As scary as the above prospect sounds, you will stop fearing Cactuars as soon as you understand 3 facts about them: Fact #1 -- Cactuars have no long-distance attacks. They can only attack you from a square adjacent to where you are standing. Fact #2 -- Cactuars will never attack you unless provoked. As long as you leave them alone, they will leave you alone. However, if you attack one, Doom it, try to steal its MP, throw something at it, or take any other action against a Cactuar, then you'd best be prepared to finish it off, because once engaged it will pursue you doggedly. So your next problem is how to take out a Cactuar before it has a chance to retaliate. This brings us to . . . Fact #3 -- One Magic attack will eliminate a Cactuar 100% of the time, provided that your character has a decent Magic stat. If you have a Black Mage DS, all you have to do to eliminate a Cactuar is hit it with a bolt of Thundaga. Magic never misses, and you can cast it from the safety of 3 squares away. With sufficiently high Magic, one shot should take out the Cactuar. Problem solved. If you don't have a Black mage DS, then your next best option is probably the Dark Knight's Doom (which also has a range of 3 squares and never misses.) However, with Doom you have to spend 5 turns running away from the Cactuar, while Thundaga ends the battle immediately AND gives you EXP into the bargain. A physical attack against a Cactuar is generally not a good idea, especially at this stage of the game. Your Accuracy stat is just too low to reliably overcome a Cactuar's high Evasion, and your attacks will miss more often than they connect. I have read tips that advise that you deplete their Magic using Lady Luck's MP Dice (the x-Needles ability requires Magic), but that is risky and time- consuming. Whatever you do, NEVER let a Cactuar occupy a square adjacent to you after you have attacked it or your primary DS may be history. Unlocking the F15 Elevator -- Kill 5 enemies and drop (then pick up if desired) 2 items. ****************************************************************************** * F16 - F20 (WF16-F20) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Cactuars on every floor, so, as usual, BEWARE! * F16 is your last chance to steal Dress Fusions Secrets for a LONG time, so stock up and use whatever you can now. * On F17, equip Gunner + Dark Knight to protect against King Takoubas, which can confuse you. Enemies Floor by Floor: F16 -- Protean Gel, Cactuar, White Fang F17 -- Cactuar, White Fang, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F18 -- Cactuar, Death Dauber, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F19 -- Cactuar, Death Dauber, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F20 -- Death Dauber, Ochu Enemy Abilities: Protean Gel -- (No PA), Blizzard(M) Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-) White Fang -- PA only King Takouba -- PA (Confusion) Death Dauber -- PA (Silence) Ochu -- PA only You should be well on your way to getting your 1/2 damage accessory. Enemy-wise, there are a LOT of King Takoubas from F17 - F22, and their attacks can Confuse you. I have never seen a Confused character attack herself, but Confusion can nonetheless be very damaging and potentially fatal. Confused characters can randomly attack or use abilities, but more than anything, they tend to Throw items from inventory. Thrown items that don't contact enemies can be recovered after the battle ends. However, if an item is thrown towards an enemy from 3 or less squares away, it will damage the enemy slightly but will be gone forever! Even equipped items -- DS and Accessories - - can be lost this way. Continued attacks from the enemy will prolong the Confused status, often resulting in the loss of several precious items and possibly even your primary DS! You really don't want this to happen. You have 3 possible strategies for dealing with enemies like King Takouba that can Confuse you. If you have a Black Mage DS, your best choice is probably to blast the enemy with Thundaga, thus knocking it off in one turn. Second, if you have a primary DS with a long-distance weapon (like a Gun Mage) and decent accuracy and PA stats, you should be able to take the enemy out from a distance. As a last resort, you can use the Dark Knight's Doom ability. Cactuars remain your single biggest threat. Proceed slowly and keep an eye out for them at all times, especially in hallways. Before riding the elevator from F19 to F20, prepare for the upcoming boss battle, because that battle will begin as soon as you ascend. In addition to your primary DS, you probably want Dark Knight (for Doom) and White Mage (for healing.) Cast Curaga on your primary DS and on YRP if her HP are low, and get your Magic as full as possible. It's also a good idea to dump any unnecessary items from your inventory. After the battle (and the inevitable squabbling among YRP) you will have access to a treasure chest which can award you up to 6 random items, provided that you have the space for them. Personally, I have never received anything worthwhile from these chests, but others have written of getting Notebooks on a semi-regular basis. The prospect of that alone would make purging your inventory worth your while. The boss on F20 is an Ochu accompanied by a Death Dauber. You can Doom the wasp or just smack it a couple of times and it will go down. If you have any kind of PA stat at all, the Ochu will offer little resistance. You will get 3 turns for every turn the Ochu gets, and this so-called "Boss" on has about 400 HP anyway. You will be amazed at how quickly this battle ends. On a good day, Ochu will go down without ever landing a punch. When the "battle" is over, take the elevator up and Save. And, of course, if you value your sanity, skip through the scene between F20 and F21. ****************************************************************************** * F21 - F25 (WF21-F25) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Armets (F23 - F26) can Berserk you. * On F25 you will encounter Pairkas, which can cast Doom. Equip Dark Knight + Trainer + Samurai, or your primary DS will quickly be history. * Consider using Doom on Creepers. Enemies Floor by Floor: F21 -- Flan Azul, Scout Machina, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F22 -- Flan Azul, Scout Machina, King Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F23 -- Armet, Creeper, Flan Azul F24 -- Armet, Creeper, Flan Azul F25 -- Gigas, Armet, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM Enemy Abilities: King Takouba -- PA(Confusion) Flan Azul -- PA, Blizzard(M) Scout Machina -- PA (MP x 2) Armet -- PA(Berserk) Creeper -- PA(Darkness), Kaboom(P) (see below) Gigas -- PA(Slow) Pairka -- (No PA), Doom(-), Thunder(M), Blizzard(M), Fire(M) As mentioned above, a physical attack from an Armet can Berserk you. This actually expedites disposing of the enemy, but your character will run around the room attacking nothing until Berserk wears off. Unless you are surrounded by enemies -- a situation you should know enough to avoid -- this really isn't a problem. Creepers aren't so much dangerous as they are annoying. They die easily but are very hard to kill. (How's THAT for a confusing statement?) As soon as you hit them once, they will latch onto you and go "Kaboom," exploding and causing damage without having the decency to let you finish them off. Treat them like less dangerous Cactuars. If you have a Black Mage DS, hit the Creeper with Thundaga. If not, use your Dark Knight to "Doom and Dodge" them. Don't do physical attacks -- even from a distance -- unless you have the muscle to one- hit kill these vermin. You want to be sure to be prepared for Pairkas. They cast Doom, which can be prevented but cannot be cured. If Doom connects, your primary DS is history unless you have a "Hope -- a Memoir" Folio in your inventory. Equip the DS combination mentioned above. You'll get protection from Doom while building up a Doomproof Accessory. Unlocking the F25 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies and throw 2 items. ****************************************************************************** * F26 - F30 (WF26-F30) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Cactuars reside from F27 - F30. * Fly Eyes can put you to Sleep, so keep your HP up. * Pairkas are still around, so keep up your Doom protection. Enemies Floor by Floor: F26 -- Gigas, Armet, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM F27 -- Gigas, Cactuar, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM F28 -- Gigas, Cactuar, Pairka -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM F29 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Cactuar F30 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Cactuar Enemy Abilities: Gigas -- PA(Slow) Armet -- PA(Berserk) Pairka -- (No PA), Doom(-), Thunder(M), Blizzard(M), Fire(M) Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-) Peregrine -- PA(Dark) Fly Eye -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses, Sleep(-) You have one last wave of Cactuars to survive, and then they will be gone for the next 40 floors or so. You know the drill. Otherwise, the only new threat is Fly Eyes, which can put you to sleep and then pound you with their Gaze attack. If you let your HP slip, this barrage of unanswered attacks can be fatal. Keep up your Doom protection until you clear B28, after which you'll not see Pairkas again. Unlocking the F30 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies and drink 2 potions. ****************************************************************************** * F31 - F35 (WF31-F35) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Relatively easy enemies. * Use this opportunity to finish creating vital accessories. * Continue to steal from Founder. Enemies Floor by Floor: F31 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Canis Major F32 -- Peregrine, Fly Eye, Canis Major F33 -- Canis Major, Flan Blanco, Boris F34 -- Canis Major, Flan Blanco, Boris F35 -- Flan Blanco, Assassin Bee, Boris Enemy Abilities: Peregrine -- PA (Dark) Fly Eye -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range -- never misses, Sleep (-) Canis Major -- PA only Flan Blanco -- PA, Thundaga(M) Boris -- PA only Assassin Bee -- PA (Silence) Enemy-wise, these 5 floors are fairly easy. Peregrines' attacks can inflict Dark. You can wait for Dark to wear off, cure it with Esuna, or just zap the darned birds with Thundaga. Flan Blancos will hit you with Magic from up to 3 squares away but will use physical attacks (which you might be able to Evade) if you are right next to them. Fly Eyes can put you to Sleep, so keep your HP up because you may lose several turns. Otherwise, have no fear -- most enemies will go down with 2 - 3 swats. You should be very nearly finished needing AP. You should have a Soldier's Bandana (1/2 damage), a Longevity Charm (prevents Doom), a Rune of Sanity (prevents Confusion) and a Stealth Cape (protects you from traps.) You might consider dumping your Rune of Sanity if you find a Gunner DS. Each occupies one inventory slot, but you can trade using one of your 5 DS slots for one of your 2 Accessory slots. Unlocking the F35 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies; Drop 3 items; Fake 3 attacks. ****************************************************************************** * F36 - F40 (WF36-F40) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Takoubas (F37 - F39) can confuse you, so protect yourself accordingly. * Nashorns (F37 - F39) can inflict Dark. * Assassin Bees (F35 - F39) can Silence you, but really, so what? * Remember to prepare for the Boss battle before taking the elevator from F39 to F40. Enemies Floor by Floor: F36 -- Flan Blanco, Assassin Bee, Boris F37 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F38 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F39 -- Nashorn, Assassin Bee, Takouba -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F40 -- Wild Wolf, Nashorn, Stalwart Enemy Abilities: Flan Blanco -- PA, Thundaga(M) Assassin Bee -- PA (Silence) Boris -- PA only Nashorn -- PA (Dark) Takouba -- PA (Confusion) Wild Wolf -- PA only Stalwart -- PA, Gigancannon (P) -- large range You will note that most enemies in these floors inflict status effects. The only concern should be confusion. You should have a Rune of Sanity by now to protect against Confusion, so be sure to equip it. Your other 2 Auto- Abilities should probably be 1/2 Damage and protection against Traps. Nashorns look like they can breathe fire at you, but if so, I have been unable to provoke them into doing so. They seem to only have a PA from one square away. At this point, I had the 4 Accessories that I wanted, so I had no further need for AP. I sold my Songstress and Psychic DS's and equipped the Stealth Cape, thus freeing up 2 inventory slots. This is good, because on F44, we are going to steal a great Accessory and will need room for it. When you get to the elevator on F39, remember to equip for battle. You will be fighting 4 Wild Wolfs, then 2 Nashorns, then a Stalwart. None of these enemies can Confuse or Doom you, and there are no Traps, so I'd go with the Soldier's Bandana for sure and maybe a Valkyrie Nails if you have one lying around. You probably want a White Mage for Curaga and/or Esuna, since you may get hit with Dark. Mascot can be useful if you want to use Mini-Demi, but if you have been developing a primary DS with any kind of PA stat, you should be able to slaughter everything in sight with just your weapon. As I advised before fighting the boss on F20, throw away any garbage in your inventory in hopes that it gets replaced with better items after you defeat the Boss. The Wild Wolfs will cluster around you, but usually no more than a couple will attack you at a time. Focus on finishing off one at a time. Two or three attacks each should do the trick. If you get overwhelmed, cast Doom on one or two of them, heal yourself, and then back away until they expire. If your primary DS is a Black Mage, just cast Ultima once and everything except the Stalwart will be gone in one turn. Deal with the Nashorns the same way you did in the earlier Floors. If they hit you with Dark, you can either wait it out, cast Esuna, or zap them with a Magic spell. When only the Stalwart remains, you can either use Mini-Demi or just attack until he goes down. My first Mini-Demi hit for about 130 HP, and my Physical Attacks were landing for about 75, so I'm not sure that I'd waste the Magic using Mini-Demi. As always, 5 MP for a Curaga seems like a real bargain. ****************************************************************************** * F41 - F45 (WF41-F45) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Steal Triple Tiara from Founder on F44 * Zurvan (F41 - F44) casts Doom, so protect accordingly. * Bicocette (F43 - F46) can Berserk you with its physical attacks. * By F45, Zurvans are gone, but Protochimeras (which can Confuse you) appear. * Bombs (F45 - F48) will explode and damage you if you don't finish them off in one turn. Enemies Floor by Floor: F41 -- Wild Wolf, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM! F42 -- Wild Wolf, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM! F43 -- Bicocette, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM! F44 -- Bicocette, Flan Amarillo, Zurvan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM! F45 -- Bicocette, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION. Enemy Abilities: Wild Wolf -- PA only Flan Amarillo -- PA, Thunder(M), Sleep(-) Zurvan -- PA, Doom, Thunder(M), Fire(M), Blizzard(M), can buff itself with Magic Boost and Physical Boost Bicocette -- PA (Berserk) Bomb -- (No PA), Firaga(M) Protochimera -- PA (Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M) Again, status effects are the only real annoyances here. Happily you do not have to simultaneously protect against Doom and Confusion, so only one of those Accessories needs to be equipped at any time. Make sure you are protected against Doom until you hit F45, and which point change to Confuseproof. Bicocettes can inflict Berserk, but that won't kill you, so just deal with it. The most important thing to do is to steal a Triple Tiara from the Founder on F44. The items that you can steal from him on a given floor are basically random, but this one item is ALWAYS available on F44. Please refer to the section on the Founder for details and cautions about stealing. Pass your turns slowly and carefully, and one of the best Accessories in the game will be yours. The Triple Tiara allows you to execute THREE physical attacks in one turn! Obviously, this gives you a HUGE advantage, and enemies will now go down in just 1 - 2 turns, depending on how often your attacks miss. In fact, once you have the Triple Tiara, you might as well sell off your Soldier's Bandana. You probably won't be able to equip both at once, and triple attacks seem to trump half damage. The Triple Tiara also solves the problem of exploding enemies. With 3 attacks (instead of just one) you can often finish off Bombs and their ilk before they even get a turn! If you screw up and miss this Accessory, another one will be available on F66, but wouldn't you rather have its awesome power now? Unlocking the F45 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, read 2 books, fake 5 attacks. ****************************************************************************** * F46 - F50 (WF46-F50) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Spine Drake (F49 - F52) has an Ice Breath attack that covers a 4 x 4 grid. Move in quickly. * Finish collecting the necessary items for getting the Tonberry Room Treasures -- Save Memo x 2 and Find Secret Rooms x 3. Enemies Floor by Floor: F46 -- Bicocette, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F47 -- Guard Machina, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F48 -- Guard Machina, Bomb, Protochimera -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F49 -- Spine Drake, Guard Machina, Coeurl F50 -- Spine Drake, Guard Machina, Coeurl Enemy Abilities: Bicocette -- PA (Berserk) Bomb -- (No PA), Fire(M), Kaboom (PA -- blows itself up) Protochimera -- PA (Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M) Spine Drake -- PA, Ice Breath(D) Guard Machina -- PA (MP x 2) Coeurl -- (No PA), Blaster(M) -- 3-square range, Quake(P) As mentioned above, Spine Drake can attack over a HUGE area, so move diagonally towards them ASAP or exit the room and let them come closer to the doorway. When adjacent to you, they will do physical attacks. Coeurls -- which were so scary in FFX-2 itself -- are lethargic punching bags. They have a Blaster attack that can hit you from 2 or 3 squares away (if they happen to notice you, which they won't if their backs are turned) but oddly enough if you are adjacent to them they will almost never attack. Avoid getting in line with them while moving right up next to them and you can finish them off without taking any damage at all. You are going to start feeling especially cramped for inventory space about now. In addition to your Accessories, DS, and routine books that you are carrying, you need to allocate at least 2 slots for the items necessary to collect the Tonberry Room treasure. Trust me when I tell you that getting these items is worth the sacrifice now. You can probably get by without any Healing books if you have a White Mage DS, and you really don't need any potions at all. Keep making those tough choices for another 10 floors. After that, we'll free up some space and quadruple the level of your primary DS, so be patient. Unlocking the F50 Elevator -- Kill 10 enemies and pass for 5 turns. ****************************************************************************** * F51 - F55 (WF51-F55) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Bolt Drakes (F51 - F54) can hit you with a Thunder attack over a 4 x 4 grid. * Mycotoxins (F55 - F57) can put you to Sleep and then pound you with Magic. Enemies Floor by Floor: F51 -- Spine Drake, Bolt Drake, Agama F52 -- Spine Drake, Bolt Drake, Agama F53 -- Bolt Drake, Agama, YSLS-99 F54 -- Bolt Drake, Agama, YSLS-99 F55 -- Mycotoxin, YLS-99, YAU-28 Enemy Abilities: Spine Drake -- PA, Ice Breath(D) Bolt Drake -- PA, Thunder Breath(D) Agama -- PA (Silence) YSLS-99 -- PA (Slow) Mycotoxin -- PA, Sleep(-), Thundaga(M) YAU-28 -- PA (MP x 2) No real changes for these 5 floors. The above noted enemies can annoy you but certainly shouldn't kill you. Keep managing your inventory and stockpiling items for the Tonberry Room treasures. Other than that, just move on. Unlocking the F55 Elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, read 2 books, fake 3 attacks, and pass 5 turns. ****************************************************************************** * F56 - F60 (WF56-F60) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Pop Frys (F57 - F59) are royal pains. * Sahagins (F58 - F59) have a Water Cannon attack that can inflict Dark. Enemies Floor by Floor: F56 -- YAU-28, YSLS-99, Mycotoxin F57 -- YAU-28, Pop Fry, Mycotoxin F58 -- Pop Fry, Sahagin, YAU-28 F59 -- Pop Fry, Sahagin, YAU-28 F60 -- Sahagin, Tomb, Ultima Weapon Enemy Abilities: YAU-28 -- PA (MP x 2) YSLS-99 -- PA (Slow) Mycotoxin -- PA, Sleep(-), Thundaga(M) Pop Fry -- (No PA), Holy(M), Meteor (P), Fire(M), Firaga(M), Blizzard(M), Blizzaga(M), Thunder(M), Thundaga(M) Sahagin -- PA, Water Cannon(P) -- 6(?)-square range and inflicts Dark. Tomb -- PA, Meteor(P) Ultima Weapon -- PA, Judgment(P), Dawn of Ruin (M), Final Abyss(D) These floors are considerably less fun than the previous 5. I have a particular dislike for Pop Frys. They block doorways with their huge size; their attacks can hit from a long ways away; and they will keep hitting you with Magic until you finish them off or they run out of Magic. The only good news is that once their MP are depleted, they are powerless as they have no PA. If you are more than one square away from a Sahagin, it will hit you with Water Cannon, which inflicts Dark. Once you move adjacent to it, it will use a PA instead. Take your punishment while moving in, cast Esuna once you are adjacent, and then finish off these pests. Festivalist + Samurai will make you Darkproof. At F59, remember to equip for a Boss fight. You don't have to protect against Traps, Doom, or Confuse. Equip your Triple Tiara for sure. If you still have a Soldier's Bandana or Valkyrie Nails, either would be a good choice for your second Accessory. On F60, you will fight Sahagin x 2, Tomb x 1 and Ultima Weapon x 1 in that order. The easiest way to finish off the Sahagins is with Magic. Even if you get hit with Dark, one zap of Magic each should easily rid you of these pests. I suppose you could use Doom, but really, why bother? While fighting the Sahagins, the Tomb may chime in with a Meteor (which damages the Sahagins as well as you,) but that attack looks worse than it actually is. Once the Sahagins are history, move up to the Tomb, whack it a couple of times, and it will go down. The Ultima Weapon looks scary, but the worst thing about it is that you will suffer many attacks before you can get close enough to land a punch of your own. Its special attacks are called Judgment, Dawn of Ruin, and Final Abyss, but none took more than about 50 HP off my main character. Once you get close enough to the Boss to attack, heal if necessary before unleashing sets of 3 attacks per turn. You will find that you get 3 turns for every one that the Boss gets. My Level 34 Samurai had a PA stat of 59, and 3 rounds of PA with the Triple Tiara laid waste to this big lug without any further damage. ****************************************************************************** * F61 - F65 (WF61-F65) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * It is finally time to claim your Tonberry Room treasures, which will definitely change your life for the better. * After defeating the Tonberrys, keep stealing from the Founder. If you get a Valkyrie Nails Accessory, try to hold on to it for the final battle. * Until you hit another patch of Cactuars, you are pretty much invincible. * Hug Bugs (F61 - F62) and Detonators (F63 - F64) can explode, but you should be powerful enough to finish them off in one turn. * Varans (F65 - F66) can cast Damnation (Doom on steroids), but you should have easy access to Doomproof for protection. Enemies Floor by Floor: F61 -- Hug Bug, Flan Palido, King Vermin! F62 -- Hug Bug, Flan Palido, King Vermin! F63 -- Detonator, YAU-71, Balivarha F64 -- Detonator, YAU-71, Balivarha F65 -- Iron Giant, Barbuta, Varan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM Enemy Abilities: Hug Bug -- PA(Darkness), Kaboom(P) Flan Palido -- PA, Blizzaga(M) King VERMIN! -- PA(Silence) Detonator -- Kaboom(P), Firaga(M) YAU-71 -- PA only Balivarha -- PA(Darkness), Firaga (M) Iron Giant -- PA only Barbuta -- PA (Berserk) Varan --PA, Damnation(-), Blizzaga(M), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Magic Boost You are now ready to find your way to the Tonberry Room. This is going to take a LOT of patience, but believe me when I tell you that it's worth the time and trouble. For the record, I'm relatively sure that the Tonberry Room can be accessed as early as F41. However, it has been my experience that attempting to do so prior to F61 takes much longer. In both cases, there are 6 possible Secret Rooms to which you might be transported. Three of these are "Special" Secret Rooms (O, X, and Triangle) that must be completed in order to access the Tonberry Room. On F61, from my experience, you will ALWAYS encounter these in the same order -- O, X, and then Triangle -- without ever repeating any of them. By contrast, on F41, I frequently returned to a Special Room that I had already completed, forcing additional resets. Every time I tried getting to the Tonberry Room earlier than F61, I gave up from impatience. My point is that you are free to try to claim these treasures earlier if you like, but don't be surprised if you find the experience frustrating. To claim your treasures, do the following: 1) When you hit F61, check the nearest room for treasures. Don't go out of your way, since there is about an 80% chance that you will have to reset and try this first step again, but you don't want to leave a useful DS or Folio behind. 2) Read one of your Find Secret Rooms Folios. A teleporter will be created. Stand on the teleporter, Check it, and choose, "Go to Secret Room." 3) If you land in a room with enemies, reset and try again. Repeat steps 1 - 3 until you land in a room in which you are surrounded by stones in the shape of a circle. This will probably take several tries, so be patient. 4) When you find the correct room, destroy the stone in the middle of the arrangement. An item (a Restart Guide(9) Folio -- Yuck!) will spawn in the room behind you. Collect the item -- or not-- and get on the elevator back in the main room. Use one of your Save Memos to save as you return to F61. 5) Repeat steps 1 - 3 above. This time, the room you are seeking has stones in the shape of an "X." 6) Repeat step 4. This time the item in the room behind you is a Tidying Up(9) -- Double Yuck!) Be sure to SAVE when you take the elevator! 7) Repeat steps 1 - 3 again. This time the room you are seeking has stones in the shape of a triangle. 8) When you find the correct room, kill the stone in the middle of the triangle. Ignore the elevator in this room. Proceed into the next room, picking up (or not) an item on the way. 9) Keep going forward, and before entering the next room, you will find Copy Techniques (2), which is far and away the best item in the game. 10) Continue forward and smash the gold stone. You will be teleported automatically to the Tonberry room. 11) You will be in a large room with 4 Mega Tonberrys and 1 regular Tonberry. BE SURE TO EQUIP PROTECTION AGAINST DOOM because the Megas can cast Damnation, a speeded-up version of Doom. You have at least 2 options for defeating them. The wimpy way is to Doom them. Each counter will start at 45, and if you move too far away from a Doomed Mega, its counter will stop going down, so this method can definitely take a while. Alternatively, if you have even a modest PA stat, you can just slug it out with one of them at a time. Each Mega only has about 1000 HP. Equipping Dark Knight + Gun Mage will inflict Darkness on your enemies, and their attacks will rarely connect, allowing you to whale on them at will. If you have done a halfway decent job of developing your character, beating the Megas in a straight-up fight is the easy and infinitely more rewarding way to win this battle. 12) For the record, you don't actually have to defeat the small Tonberry. After defeating one Mega, the elevator will activate, but why give up now? When the last Mega goes down, you will see an Accessory (Sniper Cuffs -- when equipped, your attacks never miss) materialize in the small back room. You may never use them, but you probably have room to carry them now that you've used your 3 Find Secret Rooms Folios and your 2 Save Memos. Next time you get a Find Secret Rooms Folio, you should use it to access the Cactuar Secret Room to get a Dress Fusion Secrets (9) Folio. As before, be sure to Save before using the Find Secret Rooms Folio, since it will probably take you a couple of tries to land in the correct room. Once you do, you will have 6 Cactuars to eliminate. If you have a healthy Magic stat and a Black Mage DS, the easiest way to defeat them is to equip the Black Mage as your primary DS and cast Ultima. Now that you have your Copy Techniques Folio, you have at least 2 choices: 1) You can either copy your primary DS, Fuse it, and then copy it again. For example, if you have a level 24 DS, the Copy Techniques Folio will make another level 24 DS. Fuse them together, and you have a level 48 DS. Copy that level 48 DS and fuse again, and you now have a level 96 DS! 2) Alternatively, you can copy two different DS once each. If your primary DS is below about level 30, you should probably take the first option. Your resulting DS will max out at level 99, but at that point, depending on what primary DS you have chosen, you should be nearly invincible. If your primary DS is more like level 35, you should consider the second option. At level 70, your stats should be impressive in at least 3 areas. By copying a different DS, you can develop a more balanced character by boosting stats that are different from those that your primary DS boosts. Additionally, you are likely to pick up additional DS over the next 20 floors anyway. You can fuse those to your primary DS for additional boosts in your main stats. One way or another, now that you've bumped up your DS levels significantly, most of the challenge is gone from the game. With your Triple Tiara equipped, you can finish off most enemies in 1 - 2 turns tops. You should have ready access to Confuseproof and Doomproof and have total protection from Traps. My MD was so high that the worst Magic attacks hit me for 3 HP, and my Evasion was so high that most Physical Attacks missed. Basically, until you again encounter Cactuars, you pretty much rule. After clearing the Tonberry room, you should have lots of inventory space cleared out. Try to reserve one slot for a Valkyrie Nails Accessory, which you will almost certainly be able to steal from the Founder between here and the final battle. This can make those last battles easier, as I will describe when we get there. Unlocking the F65 Elevator -- After you receive the third message that the Founder is near ("An intense aura can be felt from somewhere on this floor!") perform any action other than moving, such as passing a turn or dropping an item. This will activate the elevator. If you are in the habit of Stealing from the Founder, this will occur naturally. ****************************************************************************** * F66 - F70 (WF66-F70) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * If you missed the Triple Tiara on F44, you can try again on F66. * Enemies are mostly beefed-up versions of earlier fiends inflicting the same status effects as their lesser siblings. Enemies Floor by Floor: F66 -- Iron Giant, Barbuta, Varan -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM F67 -- Hexapod, Barbuta, Shantak F68 -- Aranea, Aculeate, Hexapod F69 -- Purpurea, Aculeate, Taromaiti -- PROTECT AGAINST DOOM! F70 -- Assault Machina, Amorphous Gel, Purpurea Enemy Abilities: Iron Giant -- PA only Barbuta -- PA (Berserk) Varan --PA, Damnation(-), Blizzaga(M), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Magic Boost Hexapod -- PA, Kaboom(P) Shantak -- PA, Sonic Boom(P) -- covers a large area Aranea -- PA only Aculeate -- PA (silence) Purpurea -- (No PA), Seed Cannon(D) Taromaiti -- PA, Firaga(M), Damnation(-), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M) Assault Machina -- PA (MP x 2) Amorphous Gel -- PA, Blizzaga(M) On my first run through the game, I missed the Triple Tiara on F44, but when I stole from the Founder on F66, I got one. On my second run, I got a TT on F44, but when I tried to get another on F66 I got an Ether instead. From this, I'm going to speculate that you can only get one TT. If you miss it on F44, I postulate, there will be another on F66. If, however, you grabbed one on F44, there will not be one on F66. Again, this is just something I inferred from my two runs. I'm also guessing that the enemies on these floors inflict the same status ailments as their relatives on earlier floors. I know for sure that Taromaitis (F69) cast Damnation, and I'm guessing that the Barbutas on F67 can Berserk you. I don't know for sure because at this point, my Evasion stat was so high that hardly anything could even hit me. I can also confirm that Hexapods have the same annoying habit as Hug Bugs of blowing themselves up if you damage them without finishing them off. This is where a high Accuracy stat would be helpful. On F70 - F71, you will encounter Amorphous Gels which, like Protean Gels, carry Dress Fusion Secrets Folios for you to Steal. However, about 80% of the ones that I encountered had nothing to steal. Perhaps I just had a bad run of luck, but these much-needed items seem less prevalent here than they were in Protean Gels. Otherwise, as I indicated earlier, you should sail through these floors with little resistance. I had high Evasion, high PA, and high Magic Defense, so I was finishing off enemies in 1 - 2 turns and was only losing HP to Magic attacks and exploding Hexapods, the former doing about 3 HP damage and the latter doing about 40 - 50 (because of my relatively low PD stat.) So, cruise your way up to F70, take the elevator and Save. Unlocking the F70 Elevator -- To activate this elevator, you must first turn into a Goon, either by reading a Folio or by getting hit by the Founder. However, the seal isn't broken until you perform an action other than moving (such as passing a turn or dropping an item) AFTER you've been turned into a Goon. So, if you're going to let the Founder turn you into a Goon, don't waste any turns afterwards lest you get ejected from the Tower. Pass a turn and then immediately take the elevator. ****************************************************************************** * F71 - F75 (WF71-F75) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Malboros (F71 - 72) have a Bad Breath attack (imagine that!) that inflicts Poison, Silence, and Slow. * Cactuars are back (F75 - F77) and are still able to wipe out even your most advanced DS with a single X-Needles attack. Continue to treat them with all due caution. * Rhyos (F75 - F76) can Confuse you, but by now you should have protection against this. * Vertigos (F75 - F76) can put you to Sleep. Enemies Floor by Floor: F71 -- Assault Machina, Amorphous Gel, Malboro F72 -- Malboro, Machina Soldier, Skink F73 -- Queen Coeurl, YSLS-Zero, Skink F74 -- Queen Coeurl, YSLS-Zero, Skink F75 -- Vertigo, Cactuar, Rhyos -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION Enemy Abilities: Assault Machina -- PA(MP x 2) Amorphous Gel -- PA, Blizzaga(M) Skink -- PA(Silence) Malboro -- Bad Breath(-) -- Inflicts Silence, Slow, and Poison Machina Soldier -- PA (MP x 2) Queen Coeurl -- (No PA), Blaster(M) -- 3-square range, Quake(P) YSLS-Zero -- PA only Vertigo -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range, never misses, Sleep(-) Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-) Rhyos -- PA(Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M) OK -- As we near the top, we get exposed to a "greatest hits" of nasty status effects. Malboros hit you with 3 of them, the worst of which is Slow because the Malboro will get 2 turns for every 1 of yours. With the Triple Tiara equipped, you should be able to finish him off in one turn. Then when Silence wears off cast Esuna to minimize damage from Poison. Vertigo's Sleep attack can be problematic, especially if there is a Cactuar in the room. In one game, I cast Doom on a Cactuar -- which, of course made him chase me. In the process of retreating, I stepped into the path of a Vertigo and got put to sleep. Luckily, the Doom counter reached 0 before the Cactuar got within range to use his X-Needles attack, but Needle-ss to say, this was a bit too close for comfort. If you have the Triple Tiara equipped and have a sufficiently high Accuracy stat, you should be able to take out Cactuars with Physical Attacks now. One of your 3 attacks is almost certain to connect. Even so, you should have tons of MP at this stage of the game, and if you have a Black Mage DS, zapping the Cactuar with Magic is still the quickest and most reliable way to get them out of your way. Otherwise, as long as you don't get Confused, you should cruise up to F75 where an elevator and Save opportunity await you. Unlocking the F75 elevator -- Kill 8 enemies, fake 5 attacks, pass 5 turns, Put Down 3 items, and Throw 3 items. The items, of course, do not have to be different, and you can pick them up immediately after discarding them. ****************************************************************************** * F76 - F80 (WF76-F80) * ****************************************************************************** Bullet Points: * Cactuars will plague you all the way to the top. * Let the Founder hit you twice on F77 to teleport you up to the final battles on F80. Enemies Floor by Floor: F76 -- Vertigo, Cactuar, Rhyos -- PROTECT AGAINST CONFUSION F77 -- Cactuar, Volcano, Hrimthurs Enemy Abilities: Vertigo -- Gaze(P) -- 3-square range, never misses, Sleep(-) Cactuar -- PA, X-Needles(-) Rhyos -- PA(Confusion), Firaga(M), Thundaga(M), Blizzaga(M) Volcano -- Kaboom(P), Firaga(M), Holy (M) Hrimthurs -- PA(Slow) Enemy-wise, from here on you need only fear Cactuars. All other enemies will offer little resistance to your awesomeness. SPOILER ALERT! You do NOT have to visit F78 or F79. Go to F77 as usual, get hit by the Founder twice, and you will be transported to the final battles on F80. It seemed to me that the Founder appears MUCH earlier than usual on F77, perhaps trying to head you off before you foolishly get on the elevator and head nowhere productive. If you are interested in what happens if you go past F77, either experiment on your own or read WNYERV's Last Mission Guide on GameFAQs. That guide does a very thorough job of detailing those last 3 floors. I'm assuming that if you're reading this guide, then you're more of a "cut to the chase" kind of person and are ready to head up to F80. Let's go! Well, not just yet. Let's prepare for battle before letting the Founder smack us twice. F80 has no Traps and there is no danger of Doom. However, the Boss' Quake attack can cause Confusion, so you definitely need to protect against that. You can do this with an Accessory if you like, but I used both Accessory slots for offense and used DS to become Confuseproof. You are going to have to fight this boss 3 separate times. Each time he starts with 4000 HP. The wimpy way to fight him is to equip a Mascot DS and use Mini- Demi until his HP get low enough and then whittle away those last few HP with Physical Attacks. If you have developed a primary DS with a good PA attack, you can easily beat this boss with only PA's. I survived all 3 rounds without using Mini-Demi and without ever healing. You can too. You'll find that you are going to get about 3 turns for every turn that the Boss gets. If you have the Triple Tiara equipped -- and why wouldn't you? -- that gives you NINE attacks for every one of his. Some of your attacks won't connect (unless your Accuracy stat is higher than mine was), but so what? Outslugging your opponent by 7 or 8 to 1 is enough of an edge. To give yourself more of an advantage, try equipping a Valkyrie Nails Accessory to up your percentage of critical hits (each of which does 3x damage.) In each set of 9 attacks, you should get at least 1 or 2 critical hits. As you can imagine, this makes the boss go down considerably quicker. In the second and third battles, the Boss (Quattour) will call in annoying little minions called "Fractus" (I'm not sure what the plural of Fractus is -- Fracti?) They will hit you with pathetic Spark attacks that may hit you for a deadly 3 HP, or they may sidle up to you and explode, hitting you for maybe 30 - 40 HP. Don't waste turns killing them -- they are merely distractions from the main task at hand, and when Quattour expires, they will too. However, remember that when they attack you, YRP will rotate towards them. Be sure to rotate back towards Quattour before your next attack lest you waste a turn. At the start of the third and final round, you will get hit with "Putrid Vapor," which will Silence you for several turns. As I said, I never needed to heal, but if you are concerned then either use an Elixir, wait for the Silence to wear off, or be proactive about healing as the end of the second round draws nigh. Ultimately, if you did a decent job developing your primary DS -- or if you didn't but have access to Mini-Demi -- these battles will be a breeze. In the end, this final battle is somewhat anticlimactic after all that you went through to get here, but take pride nonetheless in your successful run to the top of the Tower. A final scene will run, but you've already been warned about the dangers of watching these. Enjoy your success but resist the temptation to view this video tripe. ****************************************************************************** * XX. Final Words (LM20) * ****************************************************************************** Now that you have earned your Trophies, try going through the Tower again with a different primary DS. Try going through as a Black Mage or as something truly weird like an Alchemist. Here are some ideas for challenge runs to try: * Don't pick up or use the Triple Tiara. * Don't pick up or use the Copying Techniques Folio. * Never use Doom. * Never use a Physical Attack. * Use only Physical Attacks, but never use Magic or Doom. * Reduce the number of DS you can equip to 4, then 3, then 2. If you're looking to add some challenge to the game, I strongly recommend that you try a run in which you equip no more than 3 DS at a time. This will allow you to get all of the important Auto-Abilities, but you're really going to have to put some thought into which DS you have equipped at any given time and which DS you develop. The first 30 floors or so can be particularly harrowing, especially if the game is less than generous in the resources that it gives you. You can increase challenge level by combining these conditions. For example, a run with at most 3 DS, no Triple Tiara, and no Copying Techniques will really keep you on your toes and make you use your knowledge of the game to survive. Or, make up your own challenge. The depth of the game arises from the multiple ways of approaching it. Find a way that interests you. The Last Tower is not a great game, and it is perhaps a bit too easy, but it has its merits nonetheless. I hope that you find the above information useful and understandable. If so, I would appreciate it if you would click on the green "Yes" button at the top of the page, indicating that you would recommend it to others. If you are compelled to click the red "No" button instead, I hope that you will take a moment and drop me an email letting me know what you didn't like so that I can try to make this guide better for future readers. Either way, thanks for reading, and let's do this again sometime soon.