Kirlsa Caverns Hauler Beast Guide 1.0 copyright September 4th, 2004 by Kiryn Silverwing email: vexis58@eleven-four.com website url: http://www.eleven-four.com My reasons for making this guide: These Hauler beasts are annoying, and I got to know this course intimately during the hour or so it took for the Whimsical Hauler to actually choose the CORRECT path that would take me to the Earth Pixie. This is my first guide since the Dragon Seeds FAQ I wrote years ago, so bear with me. I'll be done soon. If you have any ideas of other things that should be in this guide, email me and I'll see if I can add them. But I doubt I will, because this guide was a whim and I doubt I'll care later. But feel free to email me with comments. ------------------------------------------------------------ Table of Contents: Legal-type stuff Update History How to unlock the haulers Controls Stress/Endurance The Haulers How to get to the exit How to get the treasures Acknowledgments ------------------------------------------------------------ Legal-type stuff: I really don't care if you post this guide to other places, as I only did it to help people out. However, please do not change the guide in any way, especially to take my name off of it (and possibly insert your own), because I like to get credit for my hard work. You can understand that, right? If you do post this guide in other places, please email me to tell me so, because I like to know where it is. ------------------------------------------------------------ Update History: 1.1: Added the info about how only Aggressive haulers can break down walls, and corrected the treasure directions accordingly. Also added a short guide on how to unlock the haulers, in case there's anyone who wants to know about that. 1.0: First version, wrote most of the information. ------------------------------------------------------------ How to unlock the haulers: For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, the haulers are a mini-game found in the Kirlsa Caverns. The control panel I speak of is near the entrance of the area you get to if you go right from the entrance to the caverns and go through a short passageway. But you can't use the haulers to get through the caverns until you have pulled a switch in the northern room, which is directly to the west of the healing and save points that you get to if you follow the rails around east-north-west of the control panel. There is a boss you will need to defeat in order to pull this switch. ------------------------------------------------------------ Controls: Accelerate: Press up on the control pad. Decelerate: Press down on the control pad. Switch tracks: When prompted, press right or left on the control pad, and make sure you are traveling at less than 25 km/hour. Stop: When prompted, slow to below 15 km/hour. Jump: When you come to a jump, make sure you are traveling more than 25 km/hour. ------------------------------------------------------------ Stress/Endurance: Different Haulers have different endurance levels. Endurance determines how many objects a Hauler can run into or get hit by (like walls, fences and falling rocks) before it gets too tired and returns to start whether you like it or not. ------------------------------------------------------------ The Haulers: Steady: Can be controlled, but accelerates VERY slowly. Has medium endurance. Use this one if you want to collect the treasures VERY SLOWLY but surely. Carefree: Will turn right, right, left, right, always carrying itself in the same exact circle back to the entrance. Accelerates not much faster than the Steady Hauler. Has high endurance. Whimsical: The most evil of them all. It follows no commands, but accelerates rather quickly. However, this Hauler is the only one that can get to the Earth Pixie found in the southwest corner of the map, because it is the only one that can jump that far. This Hauler can accelerate very quickly, and has medium endurance. Ill-Natured: This one will always choose the opposite of the path you give it. It has low endurance. It can be better than the Steady hauler for just collecting treasures, since it has high acceleration, as long as you remember to give it the opposite commands. Aggressive: May or may not obey commands, and will not slow below a certain speed. It will not stop, so it can only be useful for breaking down walls, as none of the other haulers can do this. It has high endurance. ------------------------------------------------------------ How to get to the exit: Ride on the Steady Hauler. Choose the following paths: left, right, left, left, left. You will get to Gregory. If you would like to return to the beginning of the path (say you were trying to get to the Earth Pixie and the stupid Hauler accidentally took you to the end) just tell Gregory to drive you back, and you will be back at the beginning automatically. Once you get to the end, you can travel from the beginning to the end without having to drive, just choose "Automatic" at the Hauler selection window. ------------------------------------------------------------ How to get the various treasures: *Notes: --When I list a chest as "hidden", it requires the Disintegration Ring to reach, which is acquired later in the game. --I am numbering these rather randomly, with the right-turns first and then the left-turns. --Unless I tell you otherwise, use the Steady hauler or, if you want, the Ill- Natured one. --I'm not going to bother listing which enemies you fight at which stops, because I don't think it's important enough. Stop 1: Just go straight and stop at the first prompt. This stop contains a normal chest with Blackberries, and another hidden chest that contains Synthesis Materials. Stop 2: Go right, right, right, then stop. This stop contains a normal chest with a Falchion (weapon for Nel that you probably bought in Kirlsa). Stop 3: To get to this stop, first you need to use the Aggressive hauler. Go right, right, left left, left, and you'll pass through a wall. Then get on a Steady (or Ill-Natured) hauler and take the same paths, stopping right after the place where the wall used to be. This stop contains a normal chest with Fresh Sage. Stops 4 and 5: Again, you'll need the Aggressive hauler. Right, left, through a wall. A choice to turn and to stop appear almost at the same time. Choose to turn left, and go through a second wall. Now get onto a Steady (or Ill- Natured) hauler, and take the same path. When you get to where it asks you to stop and turn at the same time, tell it to turn left, and then stop. The first stop contains a normal chest with Ripe Berries. Then get back on the Hauler, and if you chose to turn left before you stopped, it will take you directly to the next stop. This stop contains a normal chest with 5,000 Fol. Stop 6: Turn left, then right, then stop. This stop contains a hidden chest with Antique Jewelry. Stop 7: Turn left, then left, jump over two chasms, then stop immediately after the second. This stop contains a normal chest with Aquaberries, and a hidden chest with 3,000 Fol. Stop 8: Use the Whimsical Hauler. You cannot control it, so just keep trying over and over again until it chooses to go left, then right, then left, then right. This may take you a very long time (took me about fifty tries the first time I played, but only about five the second time), but trust me, the chances of it doing this are only one in eight. It will jump ALL the way over both chasms and land in the southwest corner, and you must stop immediately or forfeit all of that hard work you just did. This stop contains a normal chest with an Earth Pixie. ------------------------------------------------------------ Acknowledgments: Thanks to Square Enix and Tri-Ace for making this game, so that I could write the guide. Thanks to BradyGames for writing their awesome Signature Series strategy guide. The map and item list in that guide helped me keep my facts organized. Thanks to my fiance, known here on GameFAQs as crab_crouton, for everything, such as saying "yes" when I asked him if I should write a guide for this. No thanks to the Whimsical Hauler for taking so many tries to get to the Earth Pixie that I had enough time to write this guide while I was waiting. And also thanks to those people who emailed me to bug me about the problem where I did not mention that only the Aggressive hauler can break down walls. First time I wrote the guide, I had already broken the walls, so could not test whether the others could break them as well. But after my fiance saved over my game and I had to do it over again, I tested and found out that no, the other haulers cannot break down walls. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.