Eiyuu Densetsu Ao no Kiseki Spoile-Free Guide by Zennvirus (zennvirusguide@gmail.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version History ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Version 1.00 - Complete from beginning to end. Based on a 1st playthrough, thus most of what is missing is from a 2nd run, namely the optional quests and monsters from the last chapter that only appear then. Records are also missing (not for long), and the always-time-consumming to compile lists of miscellaneus odds and ens. Hang in there, or better yet: contribute, this guide is for players by players. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Que paso chavos! (that means: what's up dudes). It is I, Urizen Andrade, aka zennvirus, with the last eiyuu densetsu guide. Sorry for the wait, but you know: life, money, diarrea, etc. Finally completed the game, in spite of all the above stuff (￾‹_￾‹). This is, without a doubt, the best Kiseki title so far, joining together all the awesomes that made the other 4 installments of the Zemuria saga have a place in my collection. Gameplay, graphics, music (oh f****g YEAH!) and the bread-n-butter, the story. I must say it: not since Xenosaga have I seen such an impressivebly crafted story. Has everything, including fan-pleasing, though without getting to the point of being a hassle (Gust will know with their Ar Tonelico series). By the end of the game you will definetly enjoy a sweet sense of satisfaction after completing all those long and hard tasks the good guys at Falcom were kind enough to put in your way. And speaking of kindness, this game features some of the hardest bosses I've seen since Persona 3 FES, and while none will ever match the likes of classical live-bending experiences like the Demi-Fiend from Digital Devil Saga, or even some of the landmarks of the PS1 era (Ozma from FF9, Alpha Welltal from Xenogears, Faust from Legend of Dragoon, to remember some), they will surely have you returning with a good strategy and a vindicative attitude to challenge them again. When this game hits american shores (keep those fingers crossed and hope Sen no Kiseki does some good PR to the series, and it will), it will gather a respectable following, what with the insane replay value by means of the now-classical Record system that will have you coming back for more. But enough foreplay, let's begin with the guide! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Index ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ For easy navigation, ctrl + F then type/copy-paste the needed letters to take you where the info you seek is. 1. Battle System........................................................[BSY] 2. Character Overview...................................................[CHO] 3. Status Effects.......................................................[SEF] 4. General Strategies...................................................[GST] 5. The Quests...........................................................[QST] + Prolouge - Traces of D................................................[CH0] + Chapter 1 - Herald of a New Day.......................................[CH1] > Day One.............................................................[CH1D1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[CH1O1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[CH1O2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[CH1O3] > Optional Quest 4....................................................[CH1O4] > Optional Quest 5....................................................[CH1O5] > Day Two.............................................................[CH1D2] > Optional Quest 6....................................................[CH1O6] > Optional Quest 7....................................................[CH1O7] > Optional Quest 8....................................................[CH1O8] > Optional Quest 9....................................................[CH1O9] > Optional Quest 10..................................................[CH1O10] > Optional Quest 11..................................................[CH1O11] > Optional Quest 12..................................................[CH1O12] + Chapter 2 - West Zemuria Trade Conference.............................[CH2] > Day One.............................................................[CH2D1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[CH2O1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[CH2O2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[CH2O3] > Optional Quest 4....................................................[CH2O4] > Optional Quest 5....................................................[CH2O5] > Day Two.............................................................[CH2D2] > Optional Quest 6....................................................[CH2O6] > Optional Quest 7....................................................[CH2O7] > Optional Quest 8....................................................[CH2O8] > Optional Quest 9....................................................[CH2O1] > Optional Quest 10..................................................[CH2O10] > Day Three...........................................................[CH2D3] > Optional Quest 11..................................................[CH2O11] > Optional Quest 12..................................................[CH2O12] > Optional Quest 13..................................................[CH2O13] > Optional Quest 14..................................................[CH2O14] > Optional Quest 15..................................................[CH2O15] > Optional Quest 16..................................................[CH2O16] + Intermission - A Fleeting Rest........................................[INT] > Day One.............................................................[INTD1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[INTO1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[INTO2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[INTO3] + Chapter 3 - Quickening: Carnival of Beasts............................[CH3] > Day One.............................................................[CH3D1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[CH3O1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[CH3O2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[CH3O3] > Optional Quest 4....................................................[CH3O4] > Optional Quest 5....................................................[CH3O5] > Day Two.............................................................[CH3D2] > Optional Quest 6....................................................[CH3O6] > Optional Quest 7....................................................[CH3O7] > Optional Quest 8....................................................[CH3O8] > Optional Quest 9....................................................[CH3O9] > Optional Quest 10..................................................[CH3O10] > Day Three...........................................................[CH3D3] > Optional Quest 11..................................................[CH3O11] > Optional Quest 12..................................................[CH3O12] > Optional Quest 13..................................................[CH3O13] > Day Four............................................................[CH3D4] > Optional Quest 14..................................................[CH3O14] > Optional Quest 15..................................................[CH3O15] > Optional Quest 16..................................................[CH3O16] > Optional Quest 17..................................................[CH3O17] > Optional Quest 18..................................................[CH3O18] + Chapter 4 - The Fate of Crossbell.....................................[CH4] > Day One.............................................................[CH4D1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[CH4O1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[CH4O2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[CH4O3] > Optional Quest 4....................................................[CH4O4] > Optional Quest 5....................................................[CH4O5] > Optional Quest 6....................................................[CH4O6] > Day Two.............................................................[CH4D2] > Optional Quest 7....................................................[CH4O7] > Optional Quest 8....................................................[CH4O8] > Optional Quest 9....................................................[CH4O9] > Optional Quest 10..................................................[CH4O10] > Optional Quest 11..................................................[CH4O11] + Fragment - Beyond the False Paradise..................................[FRG] > Day One.............................................................[FRGD1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[FRGO1] + Chapter 5 - And Still We Remain.......................................[CH5] > Early...............................................................[CH5S1] > Optional Quest 1....................................................[CH5O1] > Optional Quest 2....................................................[CH5O2] > Optional Quest 3....................................................[CH5O3] > Optional Quest 4....................................................[CH5O4] > Middle..............................................................[CH5S2] > Late Half...........................................................[CH5S3] > Optional Quest 5....................................................[CH5O5] > Optional Quest 6....................................................[CH5O6] > Optional Quest 7....................................................[CH5O7] > Final Treck.........................................................[CH5S4] > Optional Quest 8....................................................[CH5O8] > Optional Quest 9....................................................[CH5O9] > Optional Quest 10..................................................[CH5O10] > Final Dungeon.........................................................[FDN] 6. Clear File...........................................................[CLF] > Records...............................................................[RCD] > EXTRA.................................................................[BNS] 7. Get All Records......................................................[GAR] 8. Books................................................................[BKS] 9. Food Recipies........................................................[FRC] 10. Character Crafts....................................................[CHC] 11. Quartz..............................................................[QRZ] 12. Arts................................................................[ART] 13. Equipment...........................................................[EQP] 14. Items...............................................................[ITM] 15. Q and A.............................................................[QAA] 16. Contact Info........................................................[CIF] 17. Credits.............................................................[CRD] 18. Legal Stuff.........................................................[LEG] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. Battle System [BSY] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This game is your classical turn-based action game...with a twist. The Legend of Heroes (Eiyuu Densetsu in japanese) franchise is sort-of a hybrid between a Turn-based RPG like Final Fantasy, using a "Turn Bar" where you can see who's turn is coming, friend and foe alike; and a TRPG like Final Fantasy Tactics (yes, I'm one of those FF fans) where the battlefield is composed by a square grid. What this means in practice is that, upon engaging the enemy, your party will be located in a square grid where the battle takes place, and your characters will actually have to Walk towards the enemy to attack them. Let's see what is going on when you engage an enemy in battle. For practical purposes, I'll discribe all the screen. +Left side - Turn Bar This blue bar is filled with small, square portraits of your 4 party members and all the enemies in the battlefield. The portrait at the top (surrounded by a yellow square) is the "current turn". Next to the protraits will often appear small rectangles with simbols in them, which are "special bonus" that will occur to whoever falls on such turn (friend and foe alike). Normally, the turn order cannot be changed, but this game's battle system has a way for you to mess with it in your favor. For more referrence, check the Hijack Command a few paragraphs below. This are the bonus you'll encounter, including the new ones added for this game: [! Mark]: Critical Strike - Effectiveness of Physical Attack, Attack and Recovery arts increases by 1.5. [Yellow heart 10%] and Yellow heart 50%]: Hp heal - Recover 10% or 50% of total Hp [Blue heart 10%] and [Blue heart 50%]: Ep Charge - Recover 10% or 50% of total Ep [Green heart 10] and [Green heart 50]: Cp Up - Gain 10 or 50 Cp [Red Cristal]: Sepith Up - Each hit given on this turn will make more sepiths fall. [Two Swords]: Rush - Character/enemy gets a turn immediatly after the one marked as rush (two turns in a row). [Small Shield]: Guard - All attacks/arts do zero damage when performed during this turn. [Red Skull]: Death - Instant death (100%) added to attacks done during this turn. Effect is blocked if target is resistant to instant death. [3 small people, one green, one yellow, one red] Teamrush - Any party member whose turn falls on this bonus can iniciate a Teamrush attack, in which all four party members will gang up on the enemy party. Damage is good, as it compounds 4 hits from your character simultaneously. However, if a character falls on this turn while performing an art (ie: when the art is fired), or if the enemy gets the Teamrush bonus, nothing will happen. You can also cancel the Teamrush if you so desire by pressing X and choosing 'Yes' (1st choice). +Ring in the middle - Party Commands (only appears when a character's turn comes up) The actions available to your party, on some situations (mostly due to status effects) one or more can be blacked out, which means that you cannot use those commands. Your battle commands are: 1. [Red Sword]: Attack - Choose this one and a small area around your selected character will light up in blue squares, indicating how far the character can move (the Mov stat will determine how big this area is). Also, there is, at the edge of the blue-square area a red, transparent circle that indicates the range of the weapon of choice the character uses (indicated by the Rng stat). Guns, obviously, have the biggest Rng value. You cannot attack anything beyond the red circle, meaning that if you choose and confirm a target, your character will move to the edge of his blue-square move area. There are items and equipment that can increase both Mov and Rng stats, resulting in more blue square you can traverse, and a bigger red circle to target your enemy. * Attack Command is blocked by the Seal status effect. 2. [Blue circular Arrow]: Move - Summons the blue-square grid for you to move. You just change position, not attack. Useful to get away from enemy area and line attacks. You can also pass a turn if you choose move and select the square where your character is standing. 3. [Green, round Spark]: Arts - This game's magic. Select this command, and a menu will open allowing you to choose which ar to use. Firts you'll find the deffensive types (healing, buffing), then the offensive ones (debuffing and attacks). After you select the desired one, you have to choose a target. A blue circle will surround on or several characters if it is a healing or buffing art. The more people inside the blue circle, the more allies benefit from its effects, and if you move the target, so does the a-o-e, which can result in someone not being healed/buffed, if s/he moves/is moved in some way before the art takes effect. Offensive arts work in a simmilar fashion, with the difference that some arts are "unfocused". When you choose this arts (Aerial, Lost Möebius, for example), a red-square grid will appear over the battlefield, and you get to choose the "epicenter", or point of origin of the art, and all enemies inside will be affected by it. But if they move, they can avoid it in its entirety. Something simillar happens for line attacks. Arts are generic, and depend soley on the Quartz equipped to the character. Also, Arts take Ep to use, so if you don't have enough for, say Air Strike (10 Ep), the art will be blacked out and unusable. For a neater, more convenient handling of the menu, the Falcom guy have made it so that the arts menu is divided into 4 sections being the first Offensive arts, then Recovery, then Debuffs, and finally the Supportive. To navigate this sections just use the L and R buttons. * Art Command is blocked by the Mute Status effect 4. [Purple flash]: Craft - A character's unique abilities. They take Cp to work, and are generally of the physical atribute. Crafts work in the same fashion as arts, some are target-fixed, with an a-o-e, and/or a targeting grid. Likewise, they range from offensive to supportive. Each character has also access to one or two S-crafts, which are special attacks that consume all Cp and generally do great damage/heal more than any other art or craft. You can only use them when you have either 100 or 200 Cp, with 200 making the crafts do a lot more damage. But don't think for a moment that you can use it when you have 100 to 199 Cp with the expectation of getting more damage for the extra Cp, it doesn't work that way, and you'll be wasting the Cp. For those who played Trails in the Sky, things remain mostly the same, except for one thing: same as with arts, the craft menu is split into sections you can access by pressing either L or R. In the first section, you'll find the character's normal crafts. Section 2 is for the S-crafts, and finally, on the third section you will find the Combo Crafts, which become available after specific events. Unlike Sora no Kiseki (SC and the 3rd), Combo Crafts in this game are only used between 2 party members, and the Combo Craft itself only costs 100 Cp for each character. They cannot be used if one of the participants is either affected by a status effect that prevents the usage of crafts (Faint, Petrify, Confuse, Freeze, Seal), or s/he has less than 100 Cp. * Craft Command is blocked by the Seal status effect. 5. [Yellow Bag]: Items - Classical RPG item menu where your tools, such as healing medicine and status removal stuff is found. If you are using an item on a party member, s/he has to be within the Move area of the character using the item for you to be able to use it. Section 1 has all the healing items and food, section two all the attack items (mostly food) 6. [Grey Arrow]: Run - Battle not going your way? The enemy is too tough? Trying to go for a first strike but missed the enemy's back? Hit Run and...well run away, and live to fight another day. Just be aware that in this game, there is a "retreat percentage", and the lower it is, the harder for you to leave the battle. +Bottom side - Party Status The four portraits of the current party members, as well as the 2 supports. Character protrait - Self explanatory. The expression will change according to how much Hp the character has. Flashing Red Light - S-craft indicator. When you hit 100Cp it will light up and start flashing, meaning that you can use your S-craft or hijack a turn. At 200Cp it will have flames around, indicating that you are at "max power", making your S-craft do Critical damage (it is stackable with the Critical Strike turn bonus). You can use the shortcut, by holding the Triangle button, and pressing one of the four directions on the D-pad corresponding to the available characters to use the S-break. Yellow Bar - Hp counter. If it empties, the character is knocked unconsious. Blue Bar - Ep counter. The fuel for your Arts. Empty bar equals no-cigar. Green Bar - Cp counter. It is recharged by the hits you make and receive. If the enemy is on a lower level than you, you will only get 3Cp per hit. Use accessories like the Gladiator's Belt and Gladiator's Headband to gain more Cp per hit given/taken. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2. Character Overview [CHO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In Ao no Kiseki you will have somwhat more freedom in building your party. Starting from Chapter 2 you will have access to 5 party members, which in turn translates in you being able to switch people from the active to the support. Plan this well, for whoever is in the support will be using randomly his/her Support craft, and some of them are rather useful. Now, there are several things to consider when building a party in this game: +What the stats of a character mean: Str: Physical Offensive power. How hard you hit with the character's weapon of choice Def: How well you resist the enemies' claws, tongues, swords, guns, etc. Ats: Art raw power. How damaging an art is in the hands of its caster, and how fast will said arcane blast be coming. Atd: How much is a character affected when the enemy "arts back" at you Spd: How frequent are the turns of a character Dex: If he can hit a nail in the head, or can't get the broad end of an elephant Agi: Enemy attacking you? Have high Agi and dodge him, have low Agi and get hit Mov: Can you walk to the end of the battlefield? With a high value in this stat, you just might Rng: How close you must be to present your lovin' caress to the enemy Having this in mind, we shall set a rank for each stat with one * being bad and ***** being the best. Also for better choosing of an efficient party, the characters will be noted as a specific type, like fighter, art-user, etc. Be aware that many characters fall under several types, that can help you build a good party that can cover most areas. Next to the name, will come the Types, in order of Specialty, 2nd and 3rd most proficient types. This are the types: Balance: A character with no particular strengths or weaknesses that can cover all tasks in battle, though never excel in anyone. Fighter: Offensive characters whose best atribute is brute strength, they are usually bad at arts and have poor defense against them. Art-user: A Fighter's opposite. Most damage is done with arts, and are weak to physicals. Gunner: Long-ranged characters whose weapons can hit far away in the battlefield, have in exchange poor Mov values. Tank: Defense specialists (a classical in many games), who are generally slow, but can take a good beating. They offten have the highest Hp and Def values. Speed: Obvious. They are the best at...well speed. They are the ones who will get the most turns in battle, and their Mov values are the best. Healer: In this game, characters that have a water-oriented quartz array, hence making them have all the water arts (which are where the heal arts are found). Power: Someone who excels at crafts, meaning his/her crafts are the reason to include said person in the party. Thus, these are the playable characters of Ao no Kiseki: Lloyd Bannings (Balance, Speed, Power) Available: Always HP - *** EP - *** Str - **** Def - *** Ats - *** Adf - ** Spd - **** Dex - *** Agi - *** Mov - ***** Rng - * -Pros: Good balance in almost every stat. -Cons: Bad Rng, he has to be close to hit. Overview: Lloyd is this game's main protagonist, and as many in the roll, he takes the job of jack-of-all-trades. Good with arts, better with his two tonfa, he has a good speed ensuring he has many turns, and he is the one with the best Mov value, meaning that he will be able to reach almost all enemies in the battlefield. He has a two-way quartz array with no particular elemental orientation, giving him access to a good number of arts, even a few high arts if you decide to. His only downside is his Rng. Those tonfa of his won't reach too far, and in fact he has the second poorest range in the game. He is the one to relay for an immediate Str buff, since he gets an a-o-e craft capable of doing so. Also, his other crafts have good area, and are generally useful in all situations for a good Cp cost. He gets 2 S-crafts, the first, Tiger Charge, targeting one enemy for good damage, and the second, Raiging Zan, a wide a-o-e. In general, a really good character with only a few minor flaws whom you will want to keep in the party even when there are others available. Elie Macdowell (Gunner, Art-user, Power) Available: Chapter 1 HP - ** EP - **** Str - *** Def - ** Ats - **** Adf - **** Spd - ** Dex - **** Agi - ** Mov - * Rng - ***** -Pros: Gunner. The best Rng in the game, and is not that weak. She is well talented in the arts department due to her high Ats. -Cons: The Princess (as Randy calls her) is rather frail to a good pounding, she won't be dodging attacks too often, and she is slow. Overview: Think of her as the main gun. :) Due to her Rng, she will be picking enemies far and away, even if her Str is only average. She may be slow and fragile, but thanks to her orbal pistol you won't have to concern yourself too much about that, even less if she is equiped with a Long Barrel accessory. Her quartz array is a two-liner, but with one being only on slot long, which means that she can have access to most arts in the game, even if she has one air elemental slot in her long line. And with her Ats, those arts will be put to good use. She has some very useful crafts at her disposition, ranging from canceling enemy arts/crafts, to accelerating other party members' turns (AT Haste), and the means to recover Cp to every one! Le cool! Her S-crafts are rather good, the two of them, the first, Aura Rain, being the game's Panic button that will revive/recover every one in a pinch, and the second, Aerial Cannon, a good way to blast enemies. The only downside of Aerial Cannon being its air elemental orientation. A very good character with access to all types of arts, thus being able to respond to most situations. You won't want to change her also. Tio Plato (Art-user, Speed, Healer) Available: Chapter 2, Day Three HP - * EP - ***** Str - ** Def - * Ats - ***** Adf - ***** Spd - **** Dex - *** Agi - ** Mov - *** Rng - ** -Pros: Raw art power at her disposition and the Ep to make it come as she pleases. Fast too, so she will have plenty of chances to blast the enemies with it. -Cons: Weak. She is easyly hurt with physicals and doesn't have that much Hp or Def to wistand it. Also, poor on the Agi dept, so she will be hit for sure. Overview: A stereotype character in many RPGs, she is the cute, serious, well endowed with power, most dedicated healer lady in the game. That's right, Tio excels at arts. Period. And even in that department she will have some quirks. Her quartz array is a one liner, making you think she can use every sort of art, but it has 2 water oriented slots. She is the best healer, okay, but that will also limit her access to other types of elements. Though that is not to say she cannot do anything. Deck her with earth, time, space and mirage quartz and she will rip through mobs of enemies with ease for most of the game. Craftwise, Tio is the one to call if you want to know what harms an enemy thanks to her Analize craft, which as an added bonus also casts Def/Adf Down unless the enemy is immune to them! But aside from that, her crafts are not really useful, since they relay on Str and Tio lacks muscle. Even her S-crafts aren't that good, regardless of Ether Buster, her first, which has a super wide range for a line attack. Her second craft, Zero Field, is better, for it will cast Max Guard on the whole party, that can be a life saver at some times. She will be with you to must battles because of her Analyze craft, a cheap debuff, and her healing powers. But whenever you get the chance of using another character, you are most likely to put s/he in Tio's place, since you can use a Battle Scope item to check the enemy's weakness (even if it doesn't debuff them). This changes a bit by the last 2 chapters of the game, where you get quartz that give her more variety in arts. And if you are the sort that gets a lot of Max Party Advantage, her poor Str won't be much of an issue. Randolf "Randy" Orlandou (Power, Fighter, Tank) Available: Chapter 1 boss, HP - ***** EP - * Str - ***** Def - ***** Ats - * Adf - ** Spd - ** Dex - *** Agi - **** Mov - **** Rng - *** -Pros: Hits hard. Good at soaking damage too. Really good Mov, and his high Agi ensures that he will counter the enemy often. -Cons: Sucks really at arts and is very slow. Overview: Tio's opposite. Randy is good for hitting with that mean-looking halberd of his. And if you want him to Tank and absorb damage, he is one tough fella. His quartz array is one of the worst, with 4 lines, but since he doesn't have neither the Ats nor the Ep to use them arts, it really won't matter, especially since his two element oriented slots are of the fire element, meaning more Str and criticals. His reason for being in the party is his sweet array of crafts. He is the one to use to cast Delay on the enemies, he can also cast both Burn and Death with his two line crafts, and he gets a craft that trades 30% of his Hp for 60 Cp. YEAH! However, he won't be getting to use the El Cheapo Tactic that Agate Crossner got to abuse in Sora no Kiseki, but what the hell. His two S-crafts are real killers, both of them a-o-e, and even if one of them, Crimson Gale (Lowe-style), is fire-elemental, they do serious damage. He is meant for rushing the enemy and preventing them from taking action, however, there are other characters that can do that too, and that offer other possibilities. I don't mean that he is bad (for that matter, neither Tio), but he is, like Tio, too limited to a few roles. Wadi "Lazy" Hemisphere (Fighter, Art-user, Tank) Available: Chapter 1 HP - *** EP - *** Str - *** Def - **** Ats - *** Adf - **** Spd - **** Dex - *** Agi - **** Mov - **** Rng - * -Pros: Fast, good for tanking despite his girlie appearance. -Cons: Average HP, EP, and all offensive power, whether physical or arts. Also the game's poorest Rng. Overview: I don't know how could Wadi (in katakana) be translated to Lazy, unless it is in another language. This pretty boy is a strange character, for he is best suited for defense rather than for attacking. In spite of his average HP and EP, Wadi can soak up damage and use good crafts to help his teammates. He is not so good however at up-front offense since he is a fist fighter, which makes his range the worst possible in the game. Craftwise, he is made to inflict status effects on the enemy and help others do the damage, instead of doing it himself (guess that's why his name is Lazy). His S-craft does good damage and also lowers stats, so it is a good thing to use, even if it only hits one enemy. Noel Seeker (Gunner, Power) Available: Prolouge HP - *** EP - ** Str - **** Def - *** Ats - ** Adf - ** Spd - ** Dex - *** Agi - **** Mov - * Rng - **** -Pros: Good Rng, better Str than Elie, also better Agi, average Dex. Her machine pistols have a good a-o-e. -Cons: Bad for arts and weak to them. The game's worst Mov. Overview: She is another gunner, which is somewhat of a middle point between Randy and Elie. She is mostly a physical oriented character, having good power at her disposition, and a nice area of effect with her machine pistols, ensuring she will hurt many enemies. For those who played the Sora no Kiseki titles, she is kinda like Tita Russel. Her quartz array is earth oriented, which should be used to compensate her weaknesses rather than giving her access to arts, since it is a 4-way array, making it kind of a waste. Her crafts are the other reason to use her, since she cancast Delay (though only to one enemy), cancel enemy buffs (oh yeah!) and hamper enemy movement. Her S-craft is a good a-o-e that can inflict some status effects and lower Mov, though not that powerful, but still useful. Usually, I use her as replacement of Randy, since his support ability is better than Noel's...until she learns her Energy missile, a real life saver. Inspector Alex Dudley (Gunner, Balance, Art-user) Available: Prolouge HP - **** EP - *** Str - **** Def - *** Ats - *** Adf - *** Spd - *** Dex - **** Agi - ** Mov - ** Rng - **** -Pros: Good HP, EP, Str and Rng (he is a Gunner). Average on the Arts and Def dept, though he won't miss often with his pistol due to his high Dex. -Cons: Average on the Def and Arts department, poor Agi and Mov, so if the enemy gets to him, he can get a serious beating. Overview: The no-nonsense Senior Investigator who is at first mean and obnoxious to the team and then befriends them (classical stereotype). If Noel is the middle point between Elie and Randy, Dudley is the one between Elie and Tio. He is good with his gun, but he is better with his arts, since he comes equipped with some pretty powerful quartz when he appears. His crafts are not so good, though he has some a-o-es at his disposition. Like Tio, his S-craft is not that useful, since it is a one-hit. Big Sword (Fighter, Art-user, Tank) Available: HP - **** EP - ** Str - **** Def - *** Ats - **** Adf - *** Spd - **** Dex - **** Agi - *** Mov - *** Rng - ** -Pros: Strong and resiliant, has also good speed. -Cons: Average Agi, so will get hit often, average Def and Adf, so will get hurt. Not so good Rng and poor EP total, so this ally won't be using much of that Ats. Overview: To tell you who BS is will be a BS (Big Spoiler). :) That's a good sword! And put to good use too. The character's trademark is one serious meat cleaver that will hurt many with enough frequency, so send this Big Spoiler to spoil the enemy with the weapon. Despite the power this character has, both in terms of Str and Ats, BS lacks the EP to use it frequently, and the arts that our mystery fighter has are also costly too. As are the crafts. Good and useful, capable of inflicting good damage and status effects, but at a not-so-reasonable CP cost. And you got to love that S-craft, which is for now the game's only all-hitting one. What can I say? Use BS while around. One useful character with only a few shortcomings that will rip appart any foe in your path. Arios Mclane (Fighter, Power, Art-user) Available: Prolouge HP - **** EP - **** Str - ***** Def - *** Ats - **** Adf - *** Spd - *** Dex - **** Agi - *** Mov - *** Rng - ** -Pros: Devastating Str, good Ats, descent Spd, Def and Adf. Has high Dex, so he will rarely miss. -Cons: Not that good Mov and Rng, but who crares! Overview: This senior Bracer is a senior powerhouse. He is with you during the Prolouge, save for a small time after the first boss battle. What can I say about him? If he were to be around, he will be like a mix between Agate and Richard from SnK. He has it all: Power to spare with his sick Str, deadly arts with his high Ats, Spd to make them come, high HP to wistand any serious counter attack, EP to spare. His other, lesser stats are of no consecuence. As neither his quartz array. What he has is enough for the time he is around. And when I speak of his crafts, he makes those four ones count. All three offensive ones have the added effect of syphoning some damage and healing him. What can I say about his S-craft? Lets see, good a-o-e, high damage, and he gets some HP back when he uses it. Need I say more? Enjoy his help while you can. This is one character I will certainly miss during the course of the game, and one that will become a fan favorite. Imagine if you could use Lowe on SnK... Thug (Power, Fighter) Available: During the Fragment before Chapter 5, and only until you leave the prison HP - ***** EP - Str - ***** Def - **** Ats - * Adf - *** Spd - *** Dex - *** Agi - *** Mov - **** Rng - * -Pros: Big, strong, and reasonably fast. Can move far. Tough too. -Cons: No Ep and no Ats (but who cares anyway). Average Adf, Spd, Dex and Agi. As poor range as Lloyd and Wadi. -Overview: Thug is more or less a programmer kindness, since during the time he is with you only Lloyd is available for use, and he gets his equipment and quartz removed. During that time there would be no Ep on either of them, thus having this mean-looking bruiser is useful. He really has what is needed for the time he is around in terms of Str and Def. His crafts are few but powerful and all have a tendency to cause Faint, which is a sweet help. His S-craft is mostly a one targeter, but in can generate some splash damage. However, it is best if you save his Cp for the normal crafts, which are far more useful. In general, Thug is what you need during the time he is around. Then he is gone for good, haveing made his one good deed. Thanks big fella! Loner (Speed, Art-user) Available: From the begining of Chapter 5 up until you go to Mishram HP - **** EP - ***** Str - *** Def - *** Ats - **** Adf - *** Spd - **** Dex - **** Agi - *** Mov - ***** Rng - * -Pros: Lots of Hp and Ep, powerful in arts. Will hit often and has a really good Mov value. -Cons: Average Str, Def, Adf and Agi, so when going physcical this fella ain't that good. -Overview: This one is useful when around. You may not be able to manage Loner's equipment and stuff, but this one makes up for it by being a very talented Art-user. That's what you'll be using this character for. Loner comes with the 3 most powerful arts in the game, Shadow Apocriphus, Last Disaster and Avalon Gate, and has the highest ammount of Ep in the game, meaning our good ally will have those three nasty ones a-coming on a consistent barrage. Craftwise, Loner has only three normal crafts, all with a particular status effect that will make them helpful. Regretfully, this character has no S-craft available, which is a shame. Guess Loner's aid comes with a price... Enjoy this character while you can, for Loner will leave as soon as you are supposed to go to Mishram during the early Chapter 5. Oh, well! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3. Status Effects [SEF] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Like any good RPG, Ao no Kiseki has some status effects to make things more interesting in battle. Bad status are often equally inflicted by enemies to allies and vicecersa. To check if an enemy is resitant to a status effect, select the enemy with the Attack command and hold down Square button, any icon that appears on the enemy's status screen means it is resisitant. Good status are more often used by the party, though some enemies can use them on themselves too. The Bad: [Skull]: Poison - Gradually takes away health. Cure with Curia water art/Baamu Medicine [Yellow Stars]: Knock-Out - Ally is incapacitated. Rise him/her with Seru water art/Celestial Balm [ZZZZ]: Sleep: Cannot act until the ally is attacked. Cure with Curia water art/Riibe Medicine [Lil' white thunders]: Seal - Cannot attack, use crafts and S-Crafts. Curia water art/Baamu Medicine [Rock]: Stone - Cannot act in battle; KO if attacked. Cure with Curia water art/Soru Medicine [Ice]: Freeze - Cannot act in battle; health is gradually taken away. Curia water art/Soru Medicine [Stars]: Faint - Cannot act in one turn. Curia water art/Riibe Medicine [Circle crossed by line]: Mute - Ally cannot use arts. Curia water art/Insulating Tape [Spiral simbol]: Confuse - Ally will attack other allies or foes. Curia water art/Riibe Medicine [Closed Eye]: Blind - DEX and AGL down. Curia water art/Baamu Medicine [Yellow Arrow Down + Letters]: Stat Down - Str, Def, Ats, Atd, Spd, Dex, Agi and Move values go down. Remove with S-Tablet (character only) [Fattened Face]: Enlarge - Afflicted characters' stats are halved. Only dissappears when KO. [Black Body Siloutte]: Vanish - Target is removed from the battlefield. (Used only by Last Boss) The Good: [Black Cross]: Anger - Target(s) afflicted focus on one character. Caused by the Taunt craft. [2 white circles]: Barrier - Next attack is blocked, then barrier dissappears. [Li'l Bird Flying]: Deathblow - Target is instantly killed. [Blue Dot]: Arts Guard - Arts are blocked for one turn, then barrier dissappears. [Clear Blue Dot]: Art Reflect - Arts thrown at the character/enemy with this buff applied will be bounced back to the caster for one turn. [Red Dot]: Craft Guard - Crafts are blocked for one turn, then barrier dissappears. [White Dot]: Max Guard - Blocks any sort of attack for one turn, then the barrier dissappears. [AT + Down Arrow]: AT Delay - Target's turn icon is moved down the Turn Bar. [Brown Arrow Up + Letters]: Stat Up - A specific stat is buffed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 4. General Strategies [GST] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ First lets clear something: ALL this strategies are Guidelines, meaning that they can be completly disregarded if they don't suit your particular playstyle. They are meant to make a quick and efficient advance through the game, and nothing more. *Contributions are welcome, if it hasn't been covered here Town strategies: + Speak to every person before going/speaking/activating the next story objective, you can find books, hidden quests, or story related clues + Speak to every person AT LEAST TWICE, on many occations, npcs can give requests or items when spoken two times in a row before leaving the current screen + If possible, try to leave town and speak with the people of other locations before proceeding with the story + When buying new items, prioritize on weapons. + When opening slots, begin with the cheapest (goes without saying) + Always open all the cheapest slots for your current characters at the same time, if you open one cheap and one expensive, you may not have enough sepiths to open slots for the other characters + When buying new quartz try to buy (if possible) 4 of EACH quartz to maximaze the chance of making a flexible party + When upgrading quartz, sell the previous version (ex: you buy Attack2 and sell Attack1) + When trading sepiths, try to keep always a minimum ammount of every kind + Always try trading the best-valued sepith and/or the type you have the most (mostly earth and water sepiths) Field/Dungeon Strategies: + Daze the enemies by hitting them from behind with Circle button + Always approach enemies from behind when properly dazed. This game rewards backstabbers...I mean, stealth with preemtive strikes + Fight all the enemies in the field the first time you enter a new area, that way you can close level gaps of your characters and take advantage of increased CP recovery + When enemies start to give experience in 1-digit quantities, feel free to double tap them on the field unless you want to earn sepiths + Wood chestes always contain miscelaneous items + Red chests contain higher quality items (high%), quartz and all-type sepith caches (med%), and equipment (low%) + Be careful with the black chests, they contain monsters, specialy the high level ones, though you get a warning in those cases + Heal and save always before opening a black chest or changing a screen + Check the field thoroughtly before proceeding to the next screen once you have eliminated all the enemies available + Always save before changing screens, in case you reach a story point. That way you can restart if missed somthing, need to level up, or perform a quest. + Take the enemies' level as the "minimum level cap" for your characters, since as a rule, when you are on the same level as the enemy, it will give very little exp Battle strategies: + Don't be overconfident, if you need to heal, do so, for any character that is knocked unconsious loses all Cp accumulated. + When leveling up, or visiting an area for the first time, use crafts often to take advantage of high Cp regneration + Only hijack turns when ABSOLUTLY necessary + When using arts, try to always use them first with the characters that have a naturally high EP count (Elie, Tio, Wadi and Dudley) + When using offensive arts, try to target as many enemies/weakesses as possible + If an enemy has 100 in all four weaknesses, any art is useful + When an enemy has less than 100 in all weaknesses, use Time, Space and Mirage arts, except on places those 3 atributes show on the analyze screen + Use buffs with care, thinking always on the turn order + When using buffs, craft buffs often have area effects and activate on the same turn you choose them + Arts that grant more than one buff take priority + Avoid using art debuffs, for aside of a few particular cases, or bosses, they are a waste of time + When using area arts, try to include as many enemies in it as possible, even if they are not vulnerable to it, since for every hit you give, your CP will rise, regardless of damage done + When healing during boss battles, try to use items first, unless the art activates before the enemy's turn + Enemies that heal, or that cancel art execution take priority in boss battles + Physically weak characters like Tio and Elie won't often finish an enemy, so plan ahead in case it happens Other strategies: + Shinning Poms are found randomly as partners of specific enemies on the field. + Double tapping enemies recovers a little Cp for the character that did the kill + The boss strategies take into consideration that all your party members have their original Master Quartz equipped when facing them, even if they are at max level (lv5) and you are leveling other Master Quartz, you should switch to the original ones. If you find that some characters aren't doing as much damage as I state here, this is probably the case. Oh! and before I forget it, Lloyd gets the Force Master Quartz and Noel the Shield as their originals. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. The Quests [QST] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Prolouge - Traces of D [CH0] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ #Altair Lodge# You will have to fight an automatical battle, which serves as a tutorial. *Note: During this chapter, to analize enemies it is better if you use Dudley's Analize mirage art, for you have limited Battle Scope items. -Boss- Two Beholder enemies. They are easy, since both Arios and Dudley are stronger than Lloyd and Noel, and one S-craft from either of them will seriously hurt them. -Boss- Afterwards, Arios and Dudley will give you 2 master quartz, Force and Shield, and the game will explain a bit about them. Navigate the inside the lodge until you reach the Rest Point, the sign that the first boss of this place is close. You should have one accessory that guards against Freeze, I suggest equipping it on Noel. -Boss- Two angel statues. Their attacks can inflict Freeze. Their group attack can be canceled by either Lloyd or Dudley. They are easy, especially because of Arios and Dudley, who will be maknig good damage. Up Str with Lloyd, and use both Dudley and Noel to Delay the enemies. Arios should attack with crafts. Heal when necessary. -Boss- After the battle there will be a scene, then Arios an Dudley will leave your party (nooo!). On the bright side, Lloyd and Noel get a new Combo Craft. From here on, use the Battle Scopes to analize the enemies. Try to stun every enemy you find to ensure you get Max Party Advantage status, which will give you 2 extra turns per character. Also, if you can fill both Lloyd's and Noel's CP to max it will help against the boss. Once you reach the 2nd rest point, save, for the boss is ahead. -Boss- A demon knight with a big sword. He only has three attacks: 1. A 2-hit combo. Moderate damage, can hit 2 party members if they are too close. 2. A charrging attack that can inflict Blind. Takes one turn to activate, so you can cancel it with Lloyd. 3. His S-craft. It affects the area around the boss, can inflict Blind, and it will heal the boss for a percentage of the damage inflicted. For this fight you only have Lloyd and Noel, so play it safe. Have Lloyd up Str, then use physicals on the boss. If he starts to charge his attack, cancel him. Noel will be in charge of healing, if both characters' HP is above 3/4ths, shoot an Earth Lance (earth art, duh!) at the boss to target his weakness. Once close to dead you may want to use Lloyd and Noel's Combo Craft, just make sure you have enough CP left to cancel the boss' attack in case you don't kill him with the Combo Craft. -Boss- There will be some scenes, then Arios and Dudley rejoin the party. It is time for round 2. -Boss- With Arios and Dudley things get easier, even if the boss has experience a serious growth. This is what he can do this time: 1. Swing his sword. It will only hit the characters farther from him, those too close won't take damage. 2. A beam attack. Line attack, can inflict Blind. 3. His S-craft, which he starts using once below the last quarter of his HP. Like before, it will target all around him, and give him some of the HP he stole from your party. Also, be careful, for this attack has a slight chance of inflicting the Death status, a serious bummer. From the begining, send Lloyd and Arios to pummel him, having Lloyd up Str every time it fades, while Arios uses his single target craft to inflict some good damage to the boss and recover some HP in the process (neat). Noel remains on healing duty. Dudley is also on healing duty, for the boss can do some good damage to both Lloyd and Noel, the weaker members of your party. If no healing is needed, use Dudley's Earthquake art to exploit the boss' weakness to earth. Keep the party's HP (but especially Lloyd's and Noel's) above half just in case the boss catches all in his S-craft. -Boss- There will be some scenes and long conversations, then Arios and Dudley will leave the party. Once Lloyd and Noel reach Crossbell Station, the chapter is at its end. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 1 - Herald of a New Day [CH1] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Day One. [CH1D1] #Crossbell City# Right now, your party will be composed of Lloyd, Elie, Noel and Wadi. There will be some scenes at KeA's room on the 3rd floor, and another when if you try to leave the S.S.S. HQ through the 2nd floor exit. In order to maximize time, do the subquests in this order: [CH1O2], [CH1O1], then [CH1O3]. This way you can access both [CH1O4] and [CH1O5] before proceeding to the Police Academy. Before leaving Crossbell City, there are a few optional scenes, one in the main hall of the Arc-en-Ciel theater with Rixia, and another with KeA at the classroom in Crossbell Cathedral. #West Crossbell Highway# On the second screen when talking to the red-haired man, the answer is: "52 people" (select it like you will when exchanging sepiths or buying/selling stuff at the store). #Knox Woodland Road# There is a monster chest with a high level monster (lv100) on the second screen of this place. For now, just ignore it. #Police Academy# Speak with Chief Sergei inside the school. Choose to take the Transportation Training (2nd choice) for extra DP. Talk to Joan the receptionist to get the Positive Agnes Vol.1 book. Go out and talk to Chief Sergei once more, then climb in the car to get back to Crossbell City. #Crossbell City# After the scene, go to the Crossbell Cathedral. Pick up KeA from Sunday School. There is an optional scene with Reis at the graveyard. Return to the S.S.S. HQ for a scene. Day One ends here. O1. ENIGMA Training 2.0 [CH1O1] DP - 3 Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to Wendy at the Orbal Store in central square. She will explain the party about Master Quartz, and give one for Elie and one for Wadi. Next, she will ask you to test them against some enemies. Go to Mansion Imelda for that purpose. Also, Wendy will kindly freeload a Spirit1 mirage quartz so you can use the Analize mirage art. Nice going Wedny! Once you have one, get back to Wendy and speak with here again. O2. Finding the Empire's Official [CH1O2] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to Rebecca the blue-haired receptionist of the C.S.P.D. building in the Admin plaza. Next, talk to the investigator Emma in the conference room. Go to the Back Alley for a scene. Now go to the Old Dragon tavern on East Stree, you will get the the cooking handbook and a recipe. (Lecter you snake!) Next, there will be a scene on the Department store's rooftop in central square. This reminds me of another similar quest in Sora no Kiseki the 3rd. Last, go to the Casino's 2nd floor on the Entretainment District for the last scene of this quest (these erebonians are w.i.e.r.d.). O3. Mansion Imelda Monsters [CH1O3] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to madam Imelda at her store in the Back Alley to get the key. Go to Mansion Imelda on Old Town. This place is easier if you got the Master Quartz from Wendy already. The target is located at the end of this short dungeon inside te big room at the very back of the building. If you have them, wear accessories that block Poison. -Boss- Boss Mosquito and its gang. Madam Imelda should seriouslly consider calling Plague Control... They are easy, as they aren't that strong. Use a-o-e crafts to take out as many mosquitos as possible, then focus on the big one. He is vulnerable to earth and fire, so bake os squish the damn vermin! He won't last long. -Boss- After the battle, you'll get a Craft Book, an item that teaches a Combo Craft between two characters, in this case, to Lloyd and Wadi (le cool). Go back to Imelda's shop to report and finish this quest. O4. West Crossbell Highway Monster [CH1O4] DP - 0 The target is located on the 3rd screen going from Crossbell City to Bellguard Gate. However, this quest does not count towards your total since after an event, it will be completed automatically without you having to kill anything. And 'cause you did not do the killing, no DP or mira are given to you (bummer). O5. Car Chase [CH1O5] (HIDDEN) DP - 3 min, 5 max if you get all answers correctly Available after clearing [CH1O1] and [CH1O2], and after wittnessing the scene in the Residencial District. Speak with officer Kate in front of the Hotel on the Entretainment District. Q1 - 3rd choice Q2 - 2nd choice Some scenes, then this quest is over. You get extra DP for answering correctly. Day Two. [CH1D2] #Crossbell City# After clearing the subquests, go to the IBC building for a small scene at the entrance. (optional) Go to th C.S.P.D. for a scene with Fran at the reception desk. (optional) Go to Crossbell Cathedral's cementery for a scene with Shuri. (optional) Go to to Old Town and enter the Exchange shop for a scene. Before going out, Wald will approach. There will be a scene, then a battle. -Boss- A one-on-one fist fight between Wald and Wadi. This mano-a-mano duel is rather easy, especially if you upgraded Wadi's weapon at Guillaume's. Wald will be taken down in 4 or 5 turns. If you use Wadi's craft to lower his Spd you will have more chances of owning him. -Boss- Return to the S.S.S. HQ for a scene outside. (only if you have cleared the 3 most urgent quests. n/c) Go to the Hayworth's home in the Residencial District and check the blue book on the bookshelf, it will give you a new paint for the car. At this point you can take on quest [CH1O9], and also go to the Library on Admini plaza to iniciate hidden quest [CH1O10]. For fast transportation around the Crossbell Estate, aside from the Bus you now have the S.S.S. car to use. It works in the same manner as the bus, except it can be parked nearly everywhere you have gone before. However, for now it is better to walk...and kill everything that moves. :) #Mainz Mountain Road# In here, you can get some items if you visit the Doll Studio by taking the northeast exit on the screen with the bus stop. There will be an optional scene you can see at the gates of the Stuido too. #Mining Town Mainz# Talk to the Mayor in his house. Speak with Rooji the miner on the north-eastern part of town to get the Positive Agnes Vol.2 book. Enter the mine in the north of town, go to the basement through the eastern stairs and check the blue book on top of the barrel to get another paint for your car. Go out of town and head to the southwest to enter the Abandoned mine. #Abandoned Mine# Note: You cannot leave once you enter, so save before doing so. Inside, after the scene, you'll gain access to the Burst Gauge. Around the entrance there is a path going down, in there you'll find a monster chest with a high level monster (lv85), which is not worth the trouble at this moment. Anyway, the path to take is through the west exit and then through the middle path. Navigate this place until you reach the Rest Point. Proceed for a scene. During the scene, the answer is: "Unlikely" (2nd choice) Afterwards, it's Boss time! Oh! And Randy joins the party. -Boss- This gaint feather-winged dragon-thing may seem intimidating at first, but in truth it is actually very easy. It has only two attacks I've seen: 1. A claw swipe, which only hits one character. 2. His S-craft, which hits all. Now, this creature is vulnerable to stat debuffs, so use Noel's last craft to lower its Str significantle, thus rendering harmless, re-cast when it fades. The next is a matter of hitting him with both Lloyd and Randy, using physicals to build up CP with Lloyd, and Randy's craft to convert 10 percent of his HP into 60 CP. When having more than 100 CP, fire Lloyd and Randy's Combo Craft for good damage. Elie and Wadi should fire Chaos Brand mirage art at the boss (preferrably with Fortuna applied) to target the boss' weakness. Every time you fill the Burst Gauge, by all means use it! It will really cripple the boss. -Boss- Some scenes later, the party rides back home... #Crossbell City# ...making a stop in the Entretainment District. You must follow Randy into the Back Alley and enter the narrow path for the closing scenes of this chapter. O6. Suspicious Dwellers Investigation [CH1O6] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Two. Speak with the reception desk lady in he City Hall to accept the quest. You have to investigate some houses around the city. 1. The house next to the Mcdowell residence on Residencial district, it's the one where a little girl with pink hair and a cat lives. 2. 2nd floor, left room of the Acacia Apartments on East Street 3. Also on East Street, check the Fishing society building (next to the Bracer's Guild) 4. Speak to the fishermen sitting at the counter of the Garante Jazz Bar on the Back Alley. You'll get the Fishing Handbook, a Rod and some bait. 5. Check the scene at the Lotus Heights apartment building on Old Town. Once done, report to the City Hall. O7. Lost Umbrella Search [CH1O7] DP - 3 min, 5 max if you find Mei Lin Available at the begining of Day Two. Speak with Oscar at the Bakery on West Street. Question - She lives on East Street (4th choice) Talk to Mrs. Bara on the north-east house at East Street. Talk to Roy in the park of the Harbor District. Talk to Mei Lyn who is hiding behind the Light House right there on the Harbor District. If you find the girl, you'll earn extra DP. O8. Beta Testng [CH1O8] DP - 3 min, 4 max if you win the minigame Talk to Ranfi the receptionist at the IBC Building. Yo will be playing a minigame against Chief Roberts using the computer at the S.S.S. HQ. Whether you win or loose you complete the quest, but if you win you earn extra DP. Note: This ques opens up the chance to challenge specific people to play the Pom! minigame. If you manage to beat them all, by the end of the game you'll achieve a Record. O9. Mainz Mountain Road Monster [CH1O9] DP - 4 The target is located on the second screen from Crossbell City to Mainz. It is the gaint ugly worm. -Boss- You'll be fighting eight Neon Abyss Worms, a type of enemy I really hate. These beasts can fire a lighting attack on one character that inflicts him/her with Mute. And the other attack is Tremor, something simillar to the Earthquake art. If they fire more than 3 in a row you will be in trouble for they might kill both Elie and Wadi, who are the ones with lower Def. So give this fight the Combo Craft approach from the start. If your characters are on lv54 or up, two Combo Crafts, preferably those with Lloyd, Noel and Wadi will kill six or seven of the damn things. With one or two worms alive things get easier. Now, focus on throwing Firebolts (fire art, I hate stating the obvious) at them with Elie and Wadi, upped by Fortuna if Wadi has it. Lloyd should hit them with physicals or Firebolts, your choice, while Noel uses her craft to Delay one of them. In this manner, the fight shouldn't posse too much trouble. -Boss- After the fight, you'll get a Craft Manual enabling a Combo Craft between Elie and Noel (yippie!) O10. Cult Incident Coverage [CH1O10] (HIDDEN) DP - 3 min, 5 max if you get all answers right (+2) Becomes availabe after you receive Fran's call after defeating Wald and going to Central Square. Speak with Miles at the Library on Admin Plaza. You have to answer some questions about the DG Cult. Get them all right to earn more DP. Q1 - Both (3rd choice) Q2 - He was a senior priest (2nd choice) Q3 - Over 500 years ago (2nd choice) O11. Old Mine Search [CH1O11] DP - 4 min, 5 max if answered the question correctly during the scene at the boss' room (+1) This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. O12. Support Requests [CH1O12]? DP - 5 min, 10 max if you completed and reported all subquests (+5) This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 2 - West Zemuria Trade Conference [CH2] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Day One. [CH2D1] Note: It is recommendable to get a Cat Treat item (Nekomanma in hiragana), which pops up as a failure result when making several recipes (meaning: neither one of the three other possible resutls listed on the recipe itself) during this chapter when you have access to the shops to get the ingredients, since it is essencial to obtain the Positive Agnes book from the Intermission. You have until the last day. You've been warned. #Crossbell City# Randy will join your party, so now you can choose a support from the Tactics menu. After the scene, you can examine the terminal for subquests. Visit Madam Imelda to get the Positive Agnes Vol. 3 book from her. Go to the Bracer's Guild for a scene at the reception desk, and another on the 2nd floor with KeA and Shizuku. (optional) There is a scene with Ilia and Co. inside the Arc-en-Ciel theater. (optional) There is also another scene at the Fishing Association which makes their new office, located in East Crossbell Highway available, and also triggers the series of fishing events (similar to the fishing mini-game from Sora no Kiseki the 3rd). The optimal order to do the subquests is: [CH2O5], then [CH2O1], then, [CH2O4], then [CH2O3], and then [CH2O2]. There is another Paint for the car located in the mess hall at Tangram Gate which you can pick up when going to finish optional quest [CH2O1]. When going from Tangram Gate to Armorica after finishing [CH2O1], talk to Harold on the inn's 2nd floor to get an item, as well as checking the room on on the right side of the corridor to find another Paintjob for the car. After you complete [CH2O2] go to Cecile's room on the living quarters of the Hospital for a scene with Cecile. (optional) Your mission is to gather information about the "Red Constellation". These are the people you have to interrogate: - The people sitting at the bar inside the inn in Armorica Village - Commander Sonya and Vice Commander Mirelle at Bellguard Gate - The Mayor of Mainz (he gives you the keys for the old mine) *Careful, for at this point you can mess up with your evaluation Go to St. Ursula Medical College and meet with Cecile at the courtyard. Once you finish subquest [CH2O2], you'll get a call from Michelle from the Bracer's Guild. This is where you can mess up, for as soon as you talk to Michelle and Arios at the Guild the scenes will proceed automatically and any unfinished subquest will be failed. So, when you are ready to proceed, talk to them, then watch the scenes. During the conversation with Chief Sergei choose "Securing the Iron-Blood Chancellor" (2nd choice). Day One ends here. O1. Guard Force Training Excercise [CH2O1] DP - 4, 5 max if you win all fights (+1) Available at the begining of Day One. Go to Tangram Gate and talk to Commandant Douglas for a classical quest from the Crossbell Estate. :) You'll have to fight 3 rounds against the Guard Force guys, each round features a handicap. Round 1 - No arts -Boss- Easy, more or less. You'll be fighting 3 Halberd Soldiers and 2 Rifle Soldiers. Each have some crafts and one art at their disposition. The Halberds use the earth art Gorgon Breath, which can Petrify, and use a jump attack that can inflict Faint. The Rifles use Aerial air art, have line energy blast that can inflict Seal, and their normal attack can inflict Burn. In this fight you have no arts, but crafts will more than suffice. Try using area crafts to harm as many soldiers as possible. Heal with items. -Boss- Round 2 - No crafts -Boss- This time, you will relay on arts. Use line attacks and a-o-es to hit as many targets as possible. If your arts inflict status effects, even better. Be ready though, for this time the enemy's arts will hit you. Try to spread your party as much as possible so their attacks don't hit all your party members. One last thing, when only one of the soldiers remains standing try to bring as many party members back to full health as possible so you start the next fight in better footing. -Boss- Round 3 - Douglas joins in the battle -Boss- He is an upgraded Halberd Soldier, with the same attacks. Lets also take the gloves off and have this moron taste the real nastiness of the S.S.S. That is, give him a good ol' fashion round of Combo crafts. Lloyd and Noel's, and Randy and Elie's will hit the whole lot of them, and if you can throw both in a row it will leave Mr. Commandant alone and with one boot in the infirmary, making him easy prey of whatever you want him to experience. So give him PAIN! -Boss- You earn extra DP for finishing all three fights. Man, I love kicking their arses. O2. New Professor's Request [CH2O2] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. Speak with Professor Seiland in her office on the St. Ursula Hospital Research wing. She wants you to gather 3 reports from three different people: 1st - Talk to Dino in front of the IGNIS hideout in Old Town 2nd - Talk to Nicole on the room to the right of the stage inside the Arc-en-Ciel theater 3rd - Talk to Kress the cook at the mess hall inside Bellguard Gate Return to the Prof. to deliver the stuff. After the scene, go to the ladies' dorm (living quarters' 3rd floor) and talk to Cecile. O3. Studying the Tower Archives [CH2O3] DP - 3 Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to Miles at the reception desk of the Library at Admin Plaza. Go to Stargaze Tower by taking the forest path of the Ursula Byroad. Climb to the 3rd floor of the tower for a scene. Then go to the room before the rooftop for another one to finish the quest. You'll be back at the Library in Crossbell City. O4. Old Armorica Road Monster [CH2O4] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. The target is located near the rest spot, it is an orange...beast. -Boss- You will fight eight of the things, which might tempt you to use a Combo Craft to reduce their numbers drastically. Should you decide to use a less brutal method of decimating them, I suggest that you equip everyone with protection against Burn. Then up Str with Lloyd, Delay them with Randy and Noel, and cool their heels with water arts from Elie and Wadi. If you neglect to equip someone with Burn protection, the enemies' fire breath attack will likely inflict that person with Burn. Cure it fast, for it can really harm your characters if left unatended. Other than that, try to use a-o-e arts to damage as many enemies as possible. -Boss- As a bonus price, you'll get another craft book, which teaches Noel and Wadi a new Combo Craft. O5. Shin's Guided Tour [CH2O5] (HIDDEN) DP - 5, 8 max if you visit every place and watch every conversation while Shin is with you (+3). Available when going to Heiyue Trading Co. Also, try to clear this one before [CH2O2]. Try to enter the Heiyue Trading Co. Then, enter the now open door and go to Tsao's office on the top floor. During the scene, Tsao will give you this quest. You got to choose who your partner is, this decision affects the "Bonding with X character" Record. Your options are Noel, Randy and Wadi. Elie will go autommatically, so she doesn't count. You got to guide Shin around the city, and the more places you visit, the more DP you get. These are the places to go, and the people to talk to: 1. IBC Building 2. The Bracer's Guild on East Street 3. Climb to the 2nd floor of the Guild and talk to KeA and Shizuku 4. After the scene, talk to KeA again 5. Talk to Morse inside the house to the left of the Fishing Association on East Street 6. Enter the Old Dragon Store in East Street. 7. Talk to Chanhoi in the kitchen 8. Go to Old Town 9. Go to the Orbal Store in Central Square 10. Go to the S.S.S. HQ for a scene in front of the building 11. Enter the Department Store and look at the Misshi plushy on the 1st floor 12. Talk to the store clerk and and buy the Misshi poster for 500 mira 13. Go to the rooftop of the Department Store to clear this quest. Tsao will give you a quartz for your troubles. Day Two. [CH2D2] Note: You really should get the Cat Treat. Not to nag, but missing it means you miss one of the 2 Zemuria weapons available per playthrough. Check the terminal for more subquests. There is an optional event at the aprtments on West Street with Shuri in the room on the 3rd floor. You have to finish [CH2O6] in order to proceed with the story. Also, there are a series of scenes you can watch involving Lecter and Kilika. You should be aware that they are completely optional, but they will gain you extra DP at the end of the chapter,so it is worth going out of your way to get them. To iniciate this optional sequence (which doesn't count as a quest) go to the C.S.P.D. Hq in Admin Plaza and talk to Dudley inside the conference room. Now you must track the wherabouts of Lecter and Kilika (this influences your evaluation at the end of the chapter). Lecter: Harbor District - Talk to the owner of the Noodle stall Entretainment District - The owner of the Ice Cream cart Residencial District - Check the Fishing point Kilika: Harbor District - Talk to the blond woman (Kuunya) East Street - Talk to the owner of the leftmost stall in the market place Central Square - The old man Conte who is sitting by the bell at the center. - The second floor of the Vanset restaurant on the leftmost table Once you've found both, go to the C.S.P.D. headquarters and report to Dudley. When asked, choose "in order to meet in secret" (3rd choice). There is an optional event when you return to the S.S.S. HQ if you've cleared all requests before reporting [CH2O6]. As soon as you go out from the S.S.S. HQ there will be a scene. *Note: At this point, you can do [CH2O10]. Now, you have to go to the Crossbell Airport by taking the South exit (to the Ursula Byroad). There will be a series of scenes (rather interesting ones). When you regain control in the city, Dudley will join the party. Go to the Law Firm and talk to Pete (Ian's assistant) to get the Positive Agnes Vol.4 book. Go to the Residencial District and enter Geofront - Sector B #Geofront - Sector B# Get all the items and open the sluice gates and proceed to the basement. Be sure to fight all the enemy chests, for one of them contains a Galadiator's Belt, and invaluable accessory that increases Cp regeneration. After the Rest Point there will be a battle. Wear Freeze protection on as many party members as possible. -Boss- You'll be fighting 9 birds whose only attack inflicts Freeze. You can either use Lloyd's upgraded Raging Spin or Dudley's Dark Matter space art to cluster the whole lot of them, then blast'em with an S-Break/Combo Craft. -Boss- Proceed to the next room for a scene, then you will have to play the Pom! mini game against a "mysterious" opponent (yeah right). You have to win in your first try to earn the most DP. After the escape event, choose "other forces" (3rd choice). Day Two ends here. O6. Search for a Kitten [CH2O6] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Two. Talk to Bond, who lives on the 2nd floor of the Acacia Apartments on East Street. Talk to Marte the fish merchant, also on East Street. Go to the Residencial District and watch the scene at the bottom of the stairs (where the Mcdowell manor is located). Enter the house for another scene. You'll exit for another scene, then climb the stairs. Go to the Entretainment District for another scene. Enter the Arc-en-Ciel theater for another scene. Climb the stairs and enter the door. Scene. Then, go back to the entrance for one last scene. Take the kitten back to Bond to clear this quest. O7. Bracer Training Excercise [CH2O7] DP - 4, 6 max if you win both fights (+2) Available at the begining of Day Two. Note: I would advice to complete this quest, since it will grant Lloyd an upgrade to his Raging Spin craft, which is particularly fundamental to many boss strategies on later chapters. So do your best! Talk to the Bracers Lynn and Eolia, who should be at the inn in Armorica Village. You will have to fight two consecutive battles against them. Wear Death protection. 1st fight You get a chance to choose a party member to help (this affects the 'Bonding with xxx' record). -Boss- These lasses might not seem like much, but if you ain't equipped with protection against Death, then they will surely kill one of your party members. Since there is another fight after this one, you should save the Combo Crafts. Let's see what they can do: Lynn: 1. Punching combo on one character. Damaging, but not that troublesome 2. 2 consecutive energy blasts. Line attack. 3. Upping her Str and Spd for 3 turns. Annoying, if you choose Noel as your partner, you can dispel it. 4. A special punch. Can inflict Death with a high probability. She uses it fairly regularly. Eolia: 1. Mist attack. Hits everyone around her, can inflict sleep. 2. Dart throw. It can inflict Death, though with a low probability. Also, she doesn't use it very often. 3. Healing. Recovers 1/3rd of the target's Hp. Lloyd should use his Burning Heart to up Str and Spd and pummel on Eolia to get her out of the picture asap. Your partner should help you do it faster: Elie - Use her Strike Bell craft to cast AT Advance on Lloyd. Noel - S Granede craft to cancel Lynn's buffing, Heavy Smash to attack. Only Lynn will be affected by the Str Down effect from this craft. Randy - Death Storm or Salamander. Both are immune to Delay. Wadi - Phantom Rush. Only Lynn will be affected by its Spd Down effect. All must cure the Faint after effect of Lloyd's Burning Heart if they get the chance. -Boss- 2nd fight comes immediatly after the last. Don't worry about healing, for Eolia will heal everyone back to full health. -Boss- You may think 5vs2 is cheating, but them Bracer girls are tougher this time. Now it's time to pull the big guns. Give them a taste of 3 Combo Crafts of your choice, which if you boosted the party's Str with Lloyd will leave them close to dying. Then it is a matter of dispatching Eolia to prevent her healing. Watch out, though, for Eolia's mist attack can inflict both Sleep and Seal, which is bad, and Lynn has gained a line attack that can cause Death. If you're careful and lay on them fast and hard, they should fall quickly without you having to waste Aseru Balms. -Boss- Win both fights to earn more DP. Also, Lloyd's Raging Spin craft gets a boost in power. O8. Searching for a Musician [CH2O8] DP - 3 Available at the begining of Day Two. Enter the train station and talk to the man dressed in black who is wearing sunglasses. Go to Old Town for a scene. Go to the Harbor District and approach the crowd for another scene. Enter the Garante Jazz Bar on the Back Alley for one last scene. (Ah! The nostalgia!) O9. East Crossbell Highway Monster [CH2O9] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Two. The target is located in the screen with the Fishing spot on the west bank of the river. It is a big, hairy bull. -Boss- You'll be facing 7 bulls. As with other fights against multiple opponents, I recomend the Combo Craft approach to decimate as many as possible. This is because 2 of the bulls' attacks inflict Faint, and the other inflicts Burn, and even if you are protected against them, to receive 7 damaging attacks in a row will be very dangerous. So kill as many as you can with 2 wide area Combo Crafts, and just hammer on the survivors with earth arts. -Boss- You'll get a Craft book that enables Randy and Noel to use their Combo Craft. Nice reward from the cows. O10. Antidote Materials Needed [CH2O10] (HIDDEN) DP - 5 Availble before going to the Airport. Speak with Arios on the left side room at the 1st floor of the St. Ursula Hospital. The Alma mushroom is located in the Ursula Byroad. You will have a NPC with you, and if he dies GAME OVER. The mushroom is a drop from one of the enemies located in the screen before Stargaze Tower. Once you got it, you'll automatically return to th Hospital. Day Three. [CH2D3] #Crossbell City# Tio joins the party. There is a scene after checking the terminal for subquests. *Note: You must finish all subquests before entering Orkis Tower, for once you do, there is no going out. Also, last chance to get the Cat Treat. If you enter the Tower without it, you will only be able to get one Zemuria weapon during this playthrough. You've been told, so no complaning later. There is an optional scene with KeA at the Library in Admin Plaza. There is an optional scene with Fran at the C.S.P.D. There is an optional scene in the top rooms of Lotus Heights Apartment building in Old Town. There is an optional scene with Claudia at the Cathedral cementery. There is an optional scene with Commandant Sonya at Bellguard Gate. Visit Armorica Village and talk with Alfred at the counter of the Inn to get the Positive Agnes Vol.5 book. #Orkis Tower# There will be a scene as soon as you enter. Check the blue book lying on the sofa on the left side path before proceeding to the right to get a new Paintjob for the car. You will have to talk with some characters on specific floors of this place in order to proceed with the story: 36th floor - Lecter 35th floor - Kilika, Julia and Muller 34th floor - Vice-President Pierre and Dudley, and Grace Once you have seen all conversations, go to the elevator and a scene will take place. There will be a scene at the 36th floor. On the first room to the left, talk to President Rocksmith. Then go to the farthest end of the hall, enter the room and talk to Chancellor Osborne. After the scene, go to the emergency stairs on the left and get out of here...but not before a battle :) -Boss- 3 robots, all weak to water, so Tio's arts will decimate them. Note: if you are trying to complete the Monster Book, you have to analize them to have them count towards the Orkis Tower area. -Boss- #Geofront - Sector D# Note: the track for this area is missing from the soundtrack! (just a little ranting, since it is a cool track). You'll find yourself in this parking lot. It is really straight forward with only a few deviations leading to treasure. To get out, you have to pass two lifts, then you'll reach a much-needed Rest Point...and two battles that mark the end of this chapter. -Boss- 6 Swords and 4 Guns. No particular weakness. You may want to off their leader first, since he will start buffing his commarades, making this battle longer. It helps if you have Noel to debuff them, though. :) Try also to go for the Dark Matter-Randy's Delay craft strategy, since that way you will have more turns to make them suffer. At this point, probably the only one among your party with access to that oh-so-lovely art is Wadi. Anyway, here is a breakdown of what everyone should be doing: Lloyd - The usual, buff the party's Str, then pummel them with Raging Spin if there is no Dark Matter user in your party, or his line craft if there is. Elie - Healing. If no healing is needed, any area art you want is fine. If in a pinch, use her Strike Bell craft to cast AT Advance on the party. Tio - Fortuna, then any area art you have. Analize at least one Sword and one Gun with her. Noel - Cancel their buffs, then use Tangle Net craft to imped their Mov. Randy - Flash Bomb and his AT Delay craft. Wadi - Dark Matter. Period. Put his Ep to good use. You could give them a good taste of your Combo Crafts, but only do so if you got the Boost Gauge filled, for you will need the Cp for the next battle. -Boss- And next is... -Boss- Those jerks nicked a Guard Force car! They are getting some serious conviction out of this. Anyway, the patrol car comes together with 3 of them robots you've been killing around in this place just to annoy you. So Water them down to remove them of the picture asap. Then focus on the car. It only has one attack that I've seen of: that gatling gun on its top. Which, even if it is an a-o-e attack shouldn't be a problem to recover from. Keep it Analized with Tio, up Str with Lloyd, and blast it with arts, especially Photon Shot, since it is the one that seems to be doing more damage. That is all. Heal anyone who falls below 1/2 of their Hp. It may take a while, since it has a lot of Hp and good Def/Adf, but it is not a hard boss. -Boss- Some scenes (I love that BGM after the boss battle), then Chapter 2 is over. O11. Boarding Officer Assistant Required [CH2O11] DP - 4, 6 if you choose the correct answer(+2) Available at the begining of Day Three. Go to the second floor of the Crossbell Train Station and talk to the Republic officer, Marou, who is standing next to the left side ticket counter. Your partner will be chosen by a Rock-Paper-Scissors game. Here is a list of the different combinations and who becomes your partner: Elie - 2nd choice, then 3rd Noel - 1st, then 1st Wadi - 3rd Randy - 1st, then 3rd Tio - 2nd, then 3rd You have to inspect all passangers from the 3 cars. If you finished [CH2O5], there is an additional scene which will hint at the identity of the true culprit. If Elie is your partner, there are aditional dialogues. When asked, choose 'Young lad' (2nd choice), to get extra DP. O12. Banished Collection Investigation [CH2O12] DP - 5 Available at the begining of Day Three. This wouldn't be a proper Kiseki game without you having to clean up the mess left by that acursed bizarre-clue-fanatic, the Phantom Thief. Go to the IBC Building and talk to the receptionist to get a pass. Ride the elevator to the 16th floor and talk to the president of the bank. Mariabel will give you the quest. (Why!! You masked waste of food!!) Before leaving, check the blue book on the table in the south wall to get a new Paintjob for the car. The dolls are located in: 1. Check the chair inside Chief Sergei's office at the S.S.S. HQ 2. In the closed farm on the first srcreen of the Old Armorica Road, you can see the trunk on the east side 3. Talk to the Archbishop at the Crossbell Cathedral's main hall 4. In Bellguard Gate, take the left stairs to reach the Train Station, check the end of the platform to reach the trunk 5. Inside the Terminal Room in the IBC Building's B5 Return to Mariabel to finish the quest. Note: If you clear this quest, additional scene will open later. (n/c) O13. Ursula Byroad Monster [CH2O13] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Three. The target is located on the leftmost death end of the forest one screen before Stargaze Tower. -Boss- You'll be fighting 6 jelly enemies. They will attack you moslty with a-o-e air arts that inflict Seal, so equip protection against it. The best approach to this fight is to use Combo Crafts to kill at least half of the enemies, then proceed to pelt them with earth arts until they fall. Don't forget to cancel their arts, Lloyd, Elie and Wadi have crafts that can do that. -Boss- After the fight, you'll earn the Craft book that enables Elie and Wadi to use their Combo Craft. O14. Moon Temple Investigation [CH2O14] (HIDDEN) DP - 5 Availble when visiting the Mainz Mountain Road tunnel, go towards the barricade. Note: There is an additional scene if you bring KeA's Maple Muffin. You'll get a Burst Up item if the scene plays. You will have an NPC with you, so you know the drill: she dies...that's it. Fortunely, she will cooperate with the party by healing allies and restoring some Cp!! Cool lass. In this place 3 new Turn Bonus will appear, Death, Guard and Vanish, and the enemies will be mostly vulnerable to space, time and mirage arts. Go all the way to the back after the Rest Point for a boss. -Boss- Big demon. He is alone and has two attacks: 1. A claw swipe that inflicts random status effects 2. And arts. Cancel them. He will also heal for 400+ Hp every now and then. This demon is weak to space, so use Fortuna, then blast him with Photon Shot. He is easy and won't give you much trouble. -Boss- There will be some scenes, and afterwards you'll end at the northern entrance of the city. O15. Support Requests [CH2O15] DP - 6, 14 max if you get all subquests (+8) This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. To get all subquests, it is advisable that you always leave the story quests for last, since the others, especially the hidden ones, all have little timeframes. Also, you have to get all answers right and view the scenes with Lecter and Kilika on Day Two. O16. Orkis Tower Security [CH2O16] DP - 5 This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Intermission - A Fleeting Rest [INT] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Day One. [INTD1] #Water Bus# To proceed with the story, you must talk to every party member. Tio and Wadi are on the deck, Noel, Elie and Randy are inside the ship. Afterwards, talk to KeA on the deck for a scene. #Hotel# First, there is a scene with all the males. Next, you are to go check on all the ladies, which ate spread evenly on the rooms of this floor. After the conversations are over, go to the 1st floor and enter the Jewel Shop on the left side to watch a scene. After getting out of the Jewel Shop proceed right to the next map for another scene. Enter the beach and go to the changing rooms for some fanpleasing scenes. :) #Lake Beach# Talk to the cat at the south western edge of the beach (the cliff) and trade the Cat Treat I've been nagging about for the Positive Agnes Vol.6 book. To earn the maximum ammount of DP and to proceed with the story, you have to finish all four events at the beach. They are: + Beach Volleyball *Note: Who you choose as your partner will affect the "Bonding with xxx" record. Choose who your teamate will be. You can choose between Randy, Noel, Wadi and Ilia During the game, you'll be promted to choose the correct answer for each character, in order to get you extra DP at the end of the chapter. This are Noel - Stand back and cover your back (2nd choice) Ilia - Toss as high as you can (1st choice) Wadi - Bring it down from high (2nd choice) Randy - Toss it to Randy (2nd choice) + Playing with sand Just answer three questions correctly for max DP. *Note: The last answer affects the "Bonding with xxx" record. Question One - "Just a little" (3rd choice) Question Two - "Quickly, then gently" (3rd choice) Question Three - "Misshi Castle" (1st choice) to up the bond with Tio, "Ban Ban Castle" (2nd choice) to up the bond with Fran. + Sunbathing (jealousy time!) Who you put sunscreen to will get a boost in her bond with Lloyd, the others... you get the idea. :) Your choices - Elie (she makes me laugh), Cecile and Rixia + Looking for White Stones After finishing the other 3 events go to the waterfront and talk to KeA and Shuri. You have to search the beach for White Stones. There are 3 of them, but only 2 are big enough. - The small one, which will make you the looser of the competition with no added effects, is next to where Shuri is standing. Look for the "!" mark. - Another one is along the northern cliffside. Check around the area where the water reaches the sand to find the "!" mark. - The last one is in Elie's...possession (funny scene alert :)) Just talk to her. After you're done go talk to Shuri and choose the second option. You have to choose to whom you give it as a gift. Who you do will get a boost in her bond with Lloyd. However, if you got all the stones, then both girls will be happy. With this, the events at the beach are over. During the scene at the shop, choose "Buy something cold" (1st choice) to proceed, then in the locker room you get to choose who looked better on his/her swimsuit (improve you bond with your choice, suffer the ire of the rest, mwahahaha! Just kidding). You can pick between: Elie, Tio, Noel, Fran, KeA, Cecile, Rixia, Shuri, Ilia, Wadi (le what?!!!) and Randy (c'mon!). #Hotel# You have to look for KeA, who hasn't returned yet (this kid...). Talk to the women at the Jewel Shop. Go to the Villa Sector and watch the scenes there to find KeA. At this point, you can do the hidden subquest [INTO1] if you return to the beach. To proceed with the story, go to the entrance of the Mishram Wonderland and talk to Tio. Choose "Wait for everyone" (2nd choice) to continue. #Wonderland# You get five tickets to view the atractions, and of course, you can invite any of your friends, who will get a boost in his/her relationship with Lloyd (this is starting to look more and more like a dating sim, sheesh!). Note: Scoring Perfect on the Horror Coaster will give you a Record. This is the only chance you have to do so until a 2nd playthrough. The places you can have some quality time are: - The Horror Coaster (be mean and bring Elie to this place, mwahahaha!) - The fortune-teller's tent - The Ferris-Wheel - The Mirror Castle To choose who enters/rides the atraction with you, speak to the receptionist before each one. *Note: You will only be able to do subquest [INTO2] while you are here, and once you leave the Wonderland, your chance to complete it is gone until a 2nd playthrough. When all five tickets are used there will be a scene and you will return to the hotel. #Hotel# There will be a scene with the character(s) who has the highest bond with Lloyd before the rooms. Another scene takes place when you enter the Jewel Shop. *Note: You need 10,000 mira to get the jewel charm. Go to the Villa Sector and enter the mansion at the end of the road to proceed with the story. During the night, go down the stairs for another scene, then you will face off against the boss of the chapter by the entrance of the Wonderland. Wear Sleep and Confusion protection. -Boss- Anyone who played Sora no Kiseki SC will remember these pests. For those new to the series, here's the run down: There are two of them, which I call the Fat and the Fist (sorry, I don't know how to spell in english their names on this instalment) Fist has 2 attacks 1. Punching a character hard, with the chance to Faint him/her 2. Summoning a little helper called Haze-Haze (from now on: H-H) Fat has also 2 attacks 1. A wide area mist blast that causes Sleep 2. Summoning more H-Hs And the H-Hs can through a Confusion blast on one person (bad), and using the Hydro Blaster water art (not so bad). Also, and perhaps the most important, Fist is only vulnerable to physical attacks, and Fat only to arts. Anything else will just heal them. For these reasons, it is best if you first go physical against Fist and any H-Hs that were summoned. In this fight, it is better to use Noel or Wadi over Randy. Up Str with Lloyd and go at Fist and the H-Hs with a-o-e crafts. Ensure that Tio has Analyzed them first to really cripple them. Elie will be using her Strike Bell craft for as long as she has Cp. This way, Fist and his helpers will croak it quickly. Then it is Fat's turn. Since only arts work on him, turn Elie and Wadi to your offensive, and if you gave Lloyd, Tio and/or Noel an earth quartz, use whatever earth art they have. If not, any time, space or mirage art is good. Also try to use the a-o-e/line arts over the single ones if you have them. To maximize damage, use Fortuna with Wadi and Analize with Tio. They aren't that tough, especially with buffs and debuffs applied. -Boss- After the battle, some scenes. Then you must go to the Mirror Castle. Some scenes later, the Intermission come to an end. O1. The Swimsuit Ripper Investigation [INTO1] (whut?!) DP - 5, 6 if you answered the questions right (+1) Available when you go to the Lake Beach. After finding KeA. Q1 - 'Someone completely different' (4th choice) Q2 - Anyone is OK (Choose between Elie, Tio and Noel, raise your bond with your choice partner) You got two battles ahead, so choose your partner wisely. -Boss- Easy. Just one penguin to kill. It will fall in 2 or 3 hits. -Boss- But then his friends come to help. -Boss- It is a 6 vs 2 and you got KeA as NPC, so protect her or risk GAME OVER. If you intend to analize them, do so with either items of Tio's craft so as not to waste too much time in which KeA can be killed (she can only wistand 2 hits). This fight is hard and will make you redo it several times...if you are going to Analyze the penguin gang. Otherwise they are not hard, and some well placed Raging Spins will keep them close to Lloyd. As for the girls, Elie has Strike Bell, which can help speed the death of the penguins, especially when combined with Lloyd's Brave Heart craft, Tio has good art power and her S-craft Zero Field can help protect KeA if she is in danger by casting Max Guard, and Noel can use her tried-and-trusted Tangle Net to prevent the birdies from approaching lil'girl. And good little KeA will support your party by lowering the penguins' Str and upping your party's stats (that's a good kid, make yourself useful). Should you prefer to deliver swift punishment to these pervy birds (somehow that sounds really bad, the Falcom scenario writers need some counseling), some nice, wide-area Combo/S-crafts will decimate them. -Boss- O2. The Misshe Challenge [INTO2] DP - 5 Occurs when you speak to the pink Misshi costume next to the shop at the rest area of the Amusment park after using 3 of the tickets. You have to find this Misshi 5 times inside the park, and you get to choose a partner for some upgrade in the bond with him/her. The places are: 1. In the Fortune Teller's tent, at the back and to the left 2. In the entrance square, behind the gaint Misshi sign on the right side 3. In the plants by the Ferris Wheel on the right of the attraction's entrance by the benches 4. In the Horror Coaster area, behind the second statue on the left side (almost next to the Wonderland map) 5. At the right side of the entrance to the Castle of Mirrors You will get the Misshi Strap for your troubles. O3. Relaxing in Mishram [INTO3] DP - 3, 7 max if you got all answers right during the beach events, just remember that on the Beachball event each character has a different "correct answer" (+4) This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 3 - Quickening: Carnival of Beasts [CH3] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Day One. [CH3D1] #Crossbell City# As always, check the terminal for new requests. There is a scene with KeA in her room. Another optional scene can be seen if you talk to Ilia who is on the stage inside the Arc-en-Ciel theater. An the last can be seen by talking to Shizuku in her room on St. Ursula Hospital. Speaking with chief Pierre in his office on the 1st floor will trigger the hidden subquest [CH3O5]. At this point, you have to kill the mirage beasts that appeat in Ursula Byroad and East Crossbell Highway. #Ursula Byroad# The target is located on the area around the Bus Stop. Descend the stairs to the shallows on the beach. Walk to the rocky area and a new path into the seaside cave will appear. Go inside 2 screens to get into a sheltered cove where you will find the first Phantom Beast. Whatever you do, wear Faint protection on as many characters as possible. Also, for this fight it will be better if you bring all three art users: Elie, Tio and Wadi. -Boss- A gaint blue turtle will be your opponent. Thise fella has only two attacks that I have seen: 1. A spin attack that will knock back all party members. It has a high chance of causing Faint. 2. An energy blast, line attack. He has to charge it, so don't waste any time in canceling with Lloyd, Elie or Wadi, it's quite damaging and causes Seal. Add to that a good ammount of Hp and high Def and Adf, and this big boy will be there for a while. Even its weakness to mirage won't be much of an advantage for you. This is an art battle, but nevertheless each party member has a role. Lloyd will act as the healer, buffer and canceler of the boss' line attack. Tio will cast Analyze every time it fades. The rest of the time, she will be your main offensive using her most powerful mirage art. Wadi will be in charge of using Fortuna on the party. When no Fortuna is needed he will either attack with his best mirage art, or cancel the boss' energy blast with his craft. Elie will be a second healer, using Breath or Holy Breath (though I doubt you have it by now). When no group healing is required, she will perform as Wadi in the offensive: mirage art or craft to cancel the boss' attack. This way you will maximize the party's perfomance, and make this battle of attrition a little less long. -Boss- #East Crossbell Highway# Target is located at the Fishing Association's Boat Shack by taking the path towards Tangram Gate. In there, go to the locked door at the eastern part of the map and a scene will occur. Just proceed beyond the now opened gate to find the beast. Wear Blind protection. -Boss- Big mouth and two gaint snakes. Let's see what they do: Big mouth 1. Spit a gaint yellow blob (ugh...). A-o-e. 2. All-hitting attack. Has to charge it, so cancel it. The snakes 1. Powerful bite on one character. 2. Blind breath. A-o-e. Can you guess what it inflicts? All are vulnerable to debuffs and space arts, so it is Dark Matter time baby! Analize this people first, then up Str with Lloyd and Ats with whoever has Fortuna. Most likely, Wadi has Dark Matter at his beck and call, so it is time to use my favorite art. If not (why on earth wouldn't you want to use such a good art?), Photon Shot will do the trick. For the rest non-art using charcaters, a-o-e crafts are the way to go. Once debuffed, these lads and lasses will be made short (well, not so short) work of them. -Boss- After the scenes, examine the blue flower where the beast was. Once you go back to your car, the Fishing Association guys will stop you to reward the team with a new fishing rod (le good). #Crossbell Cathedral# You have to go to the Cathedral where there will be a scene. Talk to Musha in the graveyard to get the Positive Agnes Vol.7 book. Check Guy's tomb on the graveyard for another scene. Go talk to the priest, then watch the scenes at the dormitory. Next, go to the Sunday School classroom for another scene. Go talk with the high priest at his office in the back, then go to the dormitory door and speak with Ries. Day One ends here. O1. Gourmet Guide Coverage [CH3O1] DP - 5, 7 max if you visit all locations (+2) Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to the receptionist of the Crossbell Times building in Harbor District. You will have to go on a restaurant tour, eating what they serve there, so bring a good ammount of mira. The places you have to visit are: 1. The noodle stand right there on Harbor District (becomes unavailable during day 3 when it rains) 2. The restaurant on Central Square 3. The bakery on West Street 4. The Old Dragon restaurant on East Street 5. The stand on Admin Plaza (becomes unavailable during day 3 when it rains) 6. The stand on Entretainment District (becomes unavailable during day 3 when it rains) 7. The Inn at Mainz 8. The Inn at Armorica 9. The mess hall in Tangram Gate 10. The mess hall in Bellguard Gate 11. The Cafeteria on the living quarters of St. Ursula Hospital (only available during Day Three) The more places you visit, the more DP you get. Try to wait until the chapter's last day to report. O2. Tracking the Fake Brand Dealer [CH3O2] DP - 4, 5 max if you DO NOT KILL the Dealer, no matter how appealing (+1) Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to Insvestigator Raymond at the Crossbell Train Station. Raymond joins as an NPC, so if he dies GAME OVER. Choose a partner to go with you and boost his/her bond with Lloyd. You will engage in two fights. 1st - 2 Republic Terrorists -Boss- These machine gun goons (try saying that 5 times as fast as you can) are easy. Mostly, you can just use Raging Spin II on them to...bring the matter up close. Your partner will be mostly dedicated to healing and babysitting Raymond, who is just a nuisance. -Boss- 2nd - 3 Republic Terrorists and the Fake Brand Dealer -Boss- Either easy, if you don't care about hurting that foul-mouthed granny, or a bit hard if you do (and want the extra DP). Let us think you were raised a gent that won't pick on old ladies. You will have to relay on Raging Spin to make those 3 morons as far as possible from granny and hurt them at the same time. Try to keep Lloyd buffed by using his Burning Heart craft (remove the Faint effect) to make short work of them. Your partner will again heal and babysit Raymond. Granny will get in your way by buffing the goons and bringing down your party's Def, so if you have the A-Refresh space art, use it. Once the three stooges are a safe distance from granny, or if you just want to silence her, one good Combo Craft will teach them some manners. -Boss- Note: during the 2nd fight, DO NOT kill the Fake Brand Dealer in order to get extra DP. Wheather you aprehended the dealer the gentleman way or were accused of police brutality, there will be some scenes and this quest is mercifully over (for the sake of the party's ears). O3. Suspicious People Investigation [CH3O3] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to the Mayor of Armorica Village. After the scene, go out and interrogate the village denizens. - Angie in one of the houses - Old man Reol at the Grocery Store - Gofan at the Inn After interrogating these 3 people, go talk to Elkin at the village's entrance. Go back to Crossbell City and check the 3rd floor rooms of Hotel Millenium on the Entretainment District. O4. Old Mine Monster [CH3O4] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day One. The target is located at the deepest part of the Old Mine, right in the middle of the boss' room. It is one of those fat bat-cats (say that quickly 5 times). Wear Faint protection. -Boss- Gee, 6 of the things...what to do? Well, you could use water arts to harm them but it will take a lot of time, and they hit harder than you. Or you can just use 3 of your choicest Combo Crafts to mince them sharpish. Your choice. -Boss- Noel and Tio are the ones who will get a Combo Craft this time. O5. Deputy Director's Request [CH3O5] (HIDDEN) DP - 5, 7 max if you get all answers right (+2) Available at the begining of Day One. Talk to Deputy Director Pierre at the C.S.P.D. building. Go to the restaurant on Central Square. Q1 - Salesman (3rd choice) Q2 - Real estate agent (2nd choice) Some scenes informing you on the marital life of the Chief (such a lame husband) and this quest is over. Day Two. [CH3D2] #Crossbell City# Do your thing with the terminal. There are some optional scenes around, one with KeA at the Library in Admin Plaza, another with Dudley on the second floor of the Department Store, one with Shizuku in her room at St. Ursula Hospital, and another with Rin and Eoria on the Hospital's cafeteria. Also, visit Bellguard Gate and talk to Dalhia in the rooftop to get the Positive Agnes Vol.8 book. Your next target is the Doll Studio halfway to Mainz. Just be aware that once you enter the Studio, the story will progress, and any subquest marked as "short term" will be failed. Inside, you will begin some interrogation. You have to listen to all three options in order to proceed with the show. Once you've finish your inquiry, you'll find yourself outside. Return to Crossbell City, and be interrupted halfway by a phone call. Go to West Crossbell Highway and head to the site of the accident. In here, examine the front of the first car, then the top of the vehicle, then speak to the conductor who is sitting at the front, and lastly check the cliff on the back of the train. After all points have been checked, there will be a scene, so it's time for some Q n A. Q1 - No damage in the locomotive (2nd choice) Q2 - I'm not sure yet (2nd choice) Now, follow the beast down the highway to the west, then to the Police Academy, and finally into Knox Forest. Oh! and you will get a Boost Gauge! Oh yeah! #Knox Woodlands# Navigate this place until you reach the Rest Point, after which the boss awaits you. You might want to wear Faint protection for this one. -Boss- Whoa! Another big fella with a Big Club (let's call him that). He is the same deal as the other beasts...in that he has mostly 2 attacks: 1. Swinging that wicked looking meat-tenderizer of his. A-o-e, can cause Faint. 2. An S-craft-like combo attack. Also a-o-e. He shares the beasts tendency to be weak to the non-common elementes, in this case space, so Dark Matter. By now both Wadi and Tio have it, so let'em rip. Lloyd should use the usual: up Str, Burning Heart and Raging Spin. Tio Analyzes the thing and Dark Matters him. Wadi should just use Dark Matter. Noel is a good option with her Halberd craft to lower, and maintain that way, the boss' Str. Elie is the healer with Breath/Holy Breath, and pops in the ocational Photon Shot. Randy lays on him with Death Charger (his last craft). That way, you will be able to drain his 46000+ Hp fast...but wait, the cheesy jerk will bail out when 15000Hp (aprox) have been taken away! -Boss- Too much for you, you steroid-pumped freak? Anyway, there will be some scenes, and then Day Two comes to a close. O6. Luggage Accidental Re-delivery [CH3O6] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Two. Talk to Aaron at the Crossbell Airport Talk to Norma at the Mainz Inn Talk to the receptionist at St. Ursula Hospital Talk to chief nurse Martha on the Hospital's 2nd floor in the nurse office Go back to Crossbell City and examine the "!" mark in the fence of the house that is right next to the exit connecting the Residential and Entretainment Districts. Inside, there will be some scenes. Note: check the bookshelf in the house to find Deep Color Paint Job. Once done, the party reports back to Aaron at the airport. O7. Theme Park Part-time Job [CH3O7] DP - 3, 7 max if you get all answers right, each worth an extra DP (+4) Available at the begining of Day Two. Just approach the Water Bus on the pier at Harbor District. Lloyd and Tio will get to make our blue-haired teamate's fantasy come true (in the good, innocent, child-friendly manner, you dirty-minded hentai addict!). >( You have to answer some questions: Q1 - 1st choice Q2 - 2nd choice Q3 - 3rd choice Q4 - 3rd choice You get a Misshi Custom for your troubles...and the chance to end the myth, much to Tio's dismay (there goes her innocence...don't frase it like that! Bad Boy! Bad Boy!). ;) Get extra DP for answering all questions right. O8. Suspicious Merchant Investigation [CH3O8] DP - 4, 8 max if you get all answers right (+4) Available at the begining of Day Two. Talk to Harlod and Mayor Torta at the Hayworth's home on Residencial District. There will be a scene at Ian's Law Firm. Go to de Macdowell's manor on Residencial District and check the bookshelf on the 2nd floor rooms. Talk to the receptionist at the IBC building, then check the movement of mira. Go back to the Hayworth's and talk to Harold and the Mayor again. Go to Armorica Village for a scene. You will have to answer some questions: Q1 - Plan is in progress (2nd choice) Q2 - Sweet stuff (3rd choice) Q3 - Stealing some land (1st choice) Q4 - The same person (3rd choice) After the scene, the quest is over. If you got all questions right, extra DP :) O9. West Crossbell Highway Monster [CH3O9] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Two. The target is located one screen after the bus stop map in the direction of Crossbell City. -Boss- 6 gaint plants. All can spit a cloud that targets one character and inflicts Blind, and a tremor that hits everyone. You know the drill with these fights: Combo Crafts to reduce their numbers, then finish the survivors. They are weak to fire (they ARE plants), so burn the remaining garbage. -Boss- And the lucky winners of today's Combo Craft are Randy and Wadi. O10. Terrorist Incident Coverage [CH3O10] (HIDDEN) DP - 4, 6 max if you get all answers right (+2) Available at the begining of Day Two. Go to Mining Town Mainz and talk to Nielsen in the biggest room of the Inn. Answer their questions: Q1 - Both (3rd choice) Q2 - To capture local enemies (2nd choice) Q3 - Impossible (3rd choice) After the scene, the quest is over. If you got all questions right, extra DP :) Day Three. [CH3D3] #Crossbell City# Also, there are some optional scenes you can view, one at the Old Dragon inn at East Street with Rixia, another with the Saber Vipers in their hideout at Old Town Go visit Commandant Douglas at Tangram Gate to get the Positive Agnes Vol.9. There is a scene at the Bracer's Guild on East Street. Go talk to chief Roberts in the IBC building. Proceed to enter Orkis Tower and talk to the receptionist, who will give you a one-time access card. With it ride te elevator to the 40th floor. Get out to the rooftop and go right. Find Jonah and talk to him. To get on with the story, you have to go to the Marshlands by taking the boat on Harbor District. However, be aware that you cannot return once you get on the boat, so finish every subquest remaining before doing so. Also, there is one last optional scene with Fran at the C.S.P.D. When ready, approach the boat and choose to ride it. #Marshlands# As soon as you arrive, you get Big Sword to join you. Pick one last member (who will get a boost in his/her bond with Lloyd) between Wadi or Noel. And as an extra perk, Bust Gauge! Proceed inside, save the fallen Bracer. After saving the second Bracer, you will find a Rest Point, and then the boss. Blind protection is helpful. -Boss- Nice...erm, kitty. Big too. Has Hp in the vicinity of the 30000. And what sort of kindness can fluffy here do? Well: 1. A normal scratch. Knocks back the target. 2. What I call Vanish Claw. Real nasty, will cast that much-hated status, temporarily expeling a teamate from the battle, and possibly draining all Ep or Cp in one shot (hope it is the first). 3. A trample charge that casts AT Delay. Oh joy... 4. A roar. Knocks back all party members. Not used often. 5. Using its tail to spew some smoke that Blinds. Boy is this thing lovely. Since this steroid-pumped Nyancat is such an agressive thingy, you have to be agressive too. Here's how: Lloyd must his keep Str up at all times, via the Burning Heart method, and pounding the cat with whichever other craft you fancy the most. Since you have Big Sword with you, might as well do the same as with Lloyd and up Str and Spd then laying on the boss with your preferred craft, but not before spending all of BS' Ep on those nifty Avalon Gate and Galion Tower mirage arts. Tio will have to keep the the cat perpetually Analyzed in order to maintain the debuffs in blue status (max). If she has an extra turn use her most powerful mirage art. Or heal, whichever is the best option. Elie is a near full-time healer with Breath/Holy Breath. If needed, use her Strike Bell craft to AT Advance the party. Noel is a big help with her craft lowering the boss' Str. She can also heal if necessary. Randy is purely offensive, though not that good for this battle. Stick to his Power Buster craft even if the boss is immune to AT Delay. Wadi should use his craft to cast Spd Down on the boss, giving more breathing room, then blasting him with mirage arts. Anyone who can must use Fortuna to up Ats. Like with many big enemies, this is a battle of attrition, so hang in there. -Boss- After the battle there will be a series of really cool scenes, and Randy will leave your party. Day Three comes to a close. O11. Car Chase [CH3O11] DP - 4, 7 max if you get all answers right (+3) Available at the begining of Day Three. Talk to Mirelle by the parking lots of Bellguard Gate Answer her questions Q1 - Slam on the brakes (1st choice) Q2 - Leave it to Noel's judgement (2nd choice) Q3 - Stop before it gets crowded (1st choice) After the scene, the quest is over. If you got all questions right, extra DP :) O12. Geofront Sector D Monster [CH3O12] DP - 4 Available at the begining of Day Three. The target is located at the very end of this place (you'll recognize it). -Boss- 6 gaint green mosquitos are your target (now I know where does Mansion Imelda gets its pests). Again, stick to the tried and true method: blast them some Combo Crafts, mop the survivors with their weakness if they have one, in this case fire. -Boss- Wadi and Tio will get their Combo Craft. O13. Acting Couch's Secret [CH3O13] (HIDDEN) DP - 4, 6 max if you get a "Perfect" (+2) Available at the begining of Day Three. Walk into the hall of the Arc-en-Ciel theater on Entretainment District. You'll play a minigame. Press the Circle button to match Shuri's dancing. To match the timing correctly you must press it the moment Shuri touches the ground. Save before to have a chance to redo in case you make mistakes. Score perfect to earn max DP. Day Four. [CH3D4] #Crossbell City# You have to track Randy. There is a scene with Rixia at the Arc-en-Ciel theater, another at the Bracer's Guild, one with Grace at the Crossbell Times building, and one more with Mireille who is standing outside the entrance of Orkis Tower. Now go to the Exchange Shop in Old Town and speak with Guillaume at his studio, then head to the Casino on Entretainment District. After visiting those three locations, go out once more and choose the order in which Randy visited those locations: 1st is the Casino (3rd choice) 2nd is Guillaume's Studio (2nd choice) 3rd is the Exchange Shop (1st choice) You will then receive a call from Tsao, so go to the department store for a conversation in the rooftop. Next, go to the Mainz Mountain Road and choose to get down at the Doll Studio stop. Descend using the rope to get to the Old Mine Road. #Old Mine Road# In this place, you can't check the map, so navigate carefully. On the bright side, you get a Bust Gauge to help things. Now, in the first branching point, the one going up leads to a treasure, the one going left is where you have to go to proceed. When you reach the one-way road, there will be a battle as soon as you reach the middle point of the bridge. You might want to wear some Death protection. -Boss- Two red cougar enemies. They are not that hard, but can be a nuisance if they manage to insta-kill a teamate. Just up Str and focus on one at a time. -Boss- After the battle, you will come out in the old mine, which means you will be able to use the Rest Point by the entrance. Save, 'cause as soon as you go out you'll see some of cool fight scenes...and then it is time to face against the chapter's boss. -Boss- 2 riflemen, one red cougar, and the Boss. Some nasty fellas, though not that hard. Here is what they do. The cougar 1. Charge at a party member. 2. Slash at a party member. This one can cause Death. The riflemen 1. Use their machine guns. A-o-e. 2. Granade. Also a-o-e, can cause Burn. The boss 1. Normal slash. 2. Chainsaw Slash. Damaging, I'm not sure if it causes Death. 3. Machine gun. A-o-e, way powerful than the riflemen. 4. I think S-craft, though I beat this joker before it had a chance to use it. Lloyd will relay on Burning Heart and Raging Spin to damage the lot of them. Tio has to Analyze them to quicken Lloyd's job, but she must prioritize on the boss. Elie heals with Breath/Holy Breath and uses Strike Bell if needed. Noel alternates between downing the boss' Str and her Smart Missile crafts. Wadi helps Lloyd with the a-o-e craft approach and lowers the boss' Spd, all with crafts. This is a craft battle, you have to be fast. -Boss- There will be some scenes after the battle, at which point the chapter will come to an end. O14. Dealing with the Phantom Beast [CH3O14] DP - 5 This one is contabilized at the end of the chapter. O15. Doll Studio Investigation [CH3O15] DP - 2 This one is contabilized at the end of the chapter. O16. Derailment Investigation [CH3O16] DP - 5, 9 max if you answered all questions right at the derailment site (+4) This one is contabilized at the end of the chapter. O17. Bracer Investigation [CH3O17] DP - 3 This one is contabilized at the end of the chapter. O18. Tracking Randy [CH3O18] DP - 2, 4 max if you chose the correct order of places Randy visited (+ 2) This one is contabilized at the end of the chapter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 4 - The Fate of Crossbell [CH4] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Day One. [CH4D1] #Crossbell City - During Raid# After the very cool chapter opening scenes, you will be at the Harbor District. Rearrange your party, keeping in mind that Randy cannot be moved from the active party. You have to fight some enemies on the 2nd floor of the Crossbell Times if you enter the building, though they are optional. Then you have to go to the IBC building. There is a scene before changing screens, and afterwards you can save before proceeding to the building. Also the refugees will provide you with some items and chief Roberts will do some healing if asked. You WILL need this, as well as refilling to max all active party members. Wear Faint and Burn protection, they are imperative. -Boss- Now, a few things you have to know about this fight: 1. There is a 5 minute-time limit to win it. 2. The boss will obliterate your party when he uses his S-craft. 3. You actually have to WIN this battle (holy cr...!) in order to earn max DP bonus at the end of the chapter. Now these are the Falcom programmers I know! I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing what this Monster (he deserves the title) can do on hard. At first, he will seem impossible to beat, given that he outlevels you, outpowers you, and is just plainly outrageous to give you a f*****g Time Limit to beat him! Surpisingly, in order to continue with the story, all you have to do is survive until those 5 minutes are done, which is just a matter of sitting down and do nothing but wait and enjoy the kick ass theme that plays for this fight ...that is, unless you want to try your luck at him, in which case that is another matter entirely. I'll tell you right now: this is one hard battle that matches the likes of Alpha Weltal from Xenogears, Ozma from Final Fantasy IX, and almost comes close to the bosses from a Shin Megami Tensei game (just pick your favorite, there are sooo many infuriating enemies on those games!). First, let us see what our Monster can do: 1. A simple slash attack. Can chop about half Hp of character with low Def. 2. Axe combo. A-o-e, damaging. 3. Throwing one of those huge axes your way. Line attack, not as damaging as #1 and #2. 4. Spin attack. A-o-e from wherever he is standing. 5. Roaring and charging 155 Cp. It also removes Str Down if you inflict it, and insult to injury, he will get another turn in a row... ...which brings us to 6. S-craft. One badass combo on your poor, punny, doomed party, thus completing the El-Cheapo tactic and owning you. So this fight boils down to one lil'old condition: don't EVER let him use that S-craft of his. It's an instant GAME OVER. You will only be able to survive it on a second playthrough. So how do we pull off the seemingly impossible task of beating him in under 5 minutes? I'll say it straight: my strategy has only allowed me to get him to the 10000Hp mark, at which point I'm lucky the time limit is up, since I most likely have only one party member alive and this bastard is preparing his S-craft. There is only one strategy I've found that truly allows you to win this fight with problably only one casualty, since luck is a big factor here. The credit goes to ExeForce87 from YouTube, who rocks, since s/he (sorry mate, don't know your gender) does this fight in Nightmare! Anyway, here is the link for the YouTube video so you can see this pro at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9E2z1a4E60 And here is the writen account: For preparations, you need food items that give Ats Up, 5 or 6 will do. For quartz, Lloyd should focus on Spd, Agi and Def, since he will take the brunt of the beating. Tio needs to have access to the arts Cobalt Sphere, Adams Guard and Aqua Mirage, though the last one is not essencial. If Randy can have access to Cobalt Sphere two, that's better. Elie only needs to have the air art Spark Dyne. All three of them need to be able to use their arts fast enough, so tinker with time quartz to get it done. Arrange the battle formation to make a triangle so that Lloyd is at the tip. Finally, equip a Gladiator's Belt+ on Tio, the other one to Lloyd. Now, for the battle itself, it is divided into 3 parts: Defense: Lloyd's task. His job is to "lure" the boss away from the rest of the party, so as to ensure they survive the whole fight (the leader sacrifizes for the team). This is done by using Raging Spin. Just pull him away, and if you are by the edge of the battlefield, just attack him, since this guy will go after the one who is closest to him or the one who attacked last. Pray he goes after Lloyd, so he leaves the others alone. Support: Randy and Tio's job. They have two tasks, one is to feed food items to Elie in order to up her Ats, and the other is to use Cobalt Sphere on the boss to maximize the damage done. Also, Tio has an extra task, which is to S-break and use Zero Field the single moment the boss prepares his S-craft, if her Cp is at max, she will give a two-hit resistant Max Guard to everyone. When the Max Guard goes of from Lloyd, she is to replace it by using Adam's Guard. Offensive: Elie's job. With her naturally high Ats and the aid of the food stuff, she will be doing anywhere between 6000 and 7000 Hp of damage to the boss depending on your level and the quality of the Ats Up upgrade. Also, at all times, try to steal via S-break any Hp Heal and Crtitical turns from the boss, especially if he is about to kill some one. This fight involves some luck, but if you play it right, you can emerge victorious. As a last note, you will have to skip all animations from arts and S-crafts, including the enemy's in order to save each precious second. Good luck with this fight, and don't forget to drop a comment for ExeForce87 giving your thanks for such a nice strategy, I'm sure s/he payed it with some gripping frustration. -Boss- After the battle, whatever the approach you took, there will be some scenes closing this chapter...kidding! Just the conclusion of the raid part. #Crossbell City# Things go back to normal, so check the terminal for some subquests. Note, however, that the time frame to finish the subquests is very short, so focus on them first. The book, Positive Agnes Vol.10 can be gotten from Joy who is at the very top of Orkis Tower. As for the scenes, there is one with KeA in her room. Then go to Central Square and talk to the cops at the center where the big bell was. Find and talk to Dudley at Garate Bar on the Back Alley. Check the doors of the former Revache & Co. building. Go and talk to the guards next to the cordoned entrance to the IBC building on Harbor District. There is one scene with Ian as soon as you enter Crossbell Cathedral (n/c). You MUST see this one (trust me). Last one is to talk to Arios in the graveyard. Wneh ready, go to St. Ursula Hospital. #St. Ursula Medical College# Talk to the receptionist, then go visit Fran on room 301. Next is Donovan in room 302, then Ilia in room 303. Enter Shizuku's room, then go to the rooftop and speak with her. As soon as you leave the hospital you'll get a call from Jonah, so return to Crossbell city and head to the Harbor District. Before you do though, speak one more time to the receptionist of the hospital to iniciate subquest [CH4O6], which can only be done after Jonah's call. Your next destination is Geofront - Sector C. #Geofront - Sector C# Jonah will join as an NPC, so watch over him, for if he dies, GAME OVER. Remember, that once you reach the Rest Point, the boss is ahead, so save as soon as you've healed. For this fight, wear Burn protection. -Boss- Gaint machine, with about 45000Hp. Weack to air. This thing is like a big, pumped combination of the lil'robots that roam the Geofront Sectors B and C. And it does stuff like them: 1. It uses its arms to hit a character several times. 2. It slams its arms against the floor several times damaging everyone. 3. Sucks in everyone. Line attack. 4. Breaths fire. Also line attack. 5. Summons the fire type robots. It is not that hard to dismantel it. Just do the usual: Lloyd - Str up, then Raging Spin. Try to catch the smaller robots in the attack. Tio - Analyze. Her most powerful air art, or water art if no air is available. Elie - Fortuna, then Spark Dyne. If it dropped the Monster, it drops this one too. Randy - Death Storm. Noel - Heavy Hammer craft to lower the boss' Str. Wadi - Fortuna and air arts. See? Simple. -Boss- There will be some scenes (as always), and once you get out Noel will leave your party. So before going out take any useful quartz she may have. Some scenes later, Day One comes to an end. O1. Recontruction of Old Town [CH4O1] DP - 5, 9 max if you do the tasks perfectly (+4) Available on Day One. Talk to Guillaume on his workshop at Old Town. You most complete a series of tasks in order to fullfil this quest with the max possible ammount of DP. The tasks are: Collecting building materials - Give 10 U materials to Guillaume (what the...!) Give soup to the residents - Enter the Lotus Heights apartment building's south room on the 1st floor. You must give some ingredients to Axel. They are: 10 Miso grain 10 Monster Meat 10 100 year old Wine 10 Sesame Oil 10 Dark mushrooms 30 Omnipresent Oninons 30 Petit Carrots 30 Hot Peppers Talk to Tantos, who should be standing next to Axel, who needs some Bitter Tomato Paste. Get it by talking to the shopkeeper of the stand in Admin Plaza. Once you get all ingredients, talk to Axel to finish this task. Help removing the waste - Talk to Canon, the kid standing next to where Mansion Imelda was. Then talk to Guillaume and he will lend you a metal detector (activated by holding Triangle and pressing L). These are the location of the wastes: 1. To the right of the door of Guillaume's workshop by the black spot 2. On the wooden box to the left of Guillaume's workshop 3. By the entrance to Geofront Sector D, on the small black bin 4. On the collapsed building a little to the right of the Geofront Sector D entrance, almost by the corner 5. In the three stacked boxes by the southeast corner of the map 6. Climb the slope to the southeast, next to the boxes and chest by the roof, right where the plank meets the grey building 7. The fallen drums by the entrance to IGNIS, it is on the right one 8. On a small ledge a little to the south from the IGNIS entrance, where the caved in roof is 9. Mansion Imelda's southern right corner on the inside 10. By the fallen wall on the left side of Mansion Imelda, also on the inside 11. On the right side bench outside Lotus Heights 12. From the same bench, check the southern black spot on the ground 13. On the crate by the exchange shop 14. Go to the roof to the left of Trinity (through the hidden passage) and check the black spot Go back to Kanon and give him the stuff you collected. Once the 3 tasks are done, report to Abbas at Guillaume's workshop. You will get the Abbas account if you talk to him again afterwards. Note: If you talk to Axel after reporting to Abbas, you will get a recipe. O2. Charity Event [CH4O2] DP - 4, 5 max if you choose one of the other contestants rather than the party member (+1) Available on Day One. Talk to Old man Morse and Roy on the City Hall. You need to find 4 people: Waitress - Sansan, at the Old Dragon restaurant on East Street Craftman - Wendy from the Orbal Store on Central Plaza Maid - Joanna at the Macdowell manor on Residencial District Sister - Reis at the Crossbell Cathedral Return to report to Roy at the City Hall. One of your companions will have to enter the paegant in order to cover for officer Kate. (I wonder what happens if you choose one of the males). Choose between Elie, Tio and Noel. When their turn comes, choose the 1st option for extra DP (the one that says about appealing to the general citizens). Then you get to choose who will be the winner from among the other 5 contestants. At the end of the quest, Roy will give you a quartz depending on who you choose. Cynthia - Spirit3 (mirage quartz) Sansan - Attack3 (fire quartz) Wendy - Avoid3 (air quartz) Joanna - HP3 (water quartz) Iris - Defense3 (earth quartz) You get a Pageant Special Prize after the winner is announced. O3. Search for a long lost father [CH4O3] DP - 4 Available on Day One. Talk to Alm at the Old Dragon restaurant on East Street at the back. Go to Lotus Height on Old Town and examine the door closest to the entrance. Talk to old man Louvic inside the 1st floor room of Villa Leysin on West Street. Go to Armorica Village for a scene. Talk to Gofan inside the Inn. Examine the hut in the northeastern part of town. Talk to the Mayor. O4. Ancient Battlefield Investigation [CH4O4] DP - 4 Available on Day One. Speak with commandant Douglas in Tangram Gate. Go to the Ancient Battlefield (the western exit of the screen just before Armorica Village). Kill the monsters at the back of the Battlefield by the Fort of the Sun. -Boss- Hiya boys! It's been long! The dog pack may look mean with all 8 of them, especially the big one, but they are mostly wimps. Stick to the old strategies by clustering them with Dark Matter and then using either Randy's Power Smash to Delay them, or just smite them with some Combo Crafts. Rinse and repeat. -Boss- You'll be back to Tangram Gate autommatically after the battle. Note: if you return to the battlefield again after finishing the request, you can get additional stuff by checking the very back for some treasures. O5. Knox Wooland Road Monster [CH4O5] DP - 4 Available on Day One. The target is located in the 1st screen coming from West Crossbell Highway, it is the gaint blue thing that makes the side track its home. -Boss- They are 3, and are weak to space, so it is Dark Matter all the way. Their attacks will knock back your teamates, and I suspect they can inflict Faint, but I'm not sure. They are also good targets for some of those lovely Combo Crafts. -Boss- O6. Medical supplies Investigation [CH4O6] (HIDDEN) DP - 5, 7 max if you actually catch the criminal (+2) Available on Day One. Before entering Geofront Sector C after Jonah calls you at the Hospital, go and talk with the Hospital receptionist. After the conversation, go to the Airport and talk with Ricardo to accept the quest. Note: You MUST view the conversation at the Hospital in order to be able to enter the Airport. Also, the quest will fail if you enter either Bellguard or Tangram Gates on foot. Go to Tangram Gate, despite the fact that everyone has said to go to Bellguard, if you go to Bellguard, you will fail the quest. At Tangram there will be a scene, then a battle. Wear both Blind and Death protection. -Boss- You'll fight 6 red cougars. You've met them before, so you know they can cause Death with their attacks. Just cluster them with a good Dark Matter, then blast them with a Combo Craft. -Boss- Some scenes later, quest is over. Day Two. [CH4D2] #Crossbell City# Wadi is gone from the party (that snake!). Visit the 2nd floor's right room of Acacia Apartments and talk to Mashi to get the Positive Agnes Vol.11 book. Go to the Bracer's Guild for a scene. Head then to the Revache & Co building in the Back Alley. Just remember to finish all subquests before entering, for once you do you can't go back out. #Mishram Wonderland# After the scenes, you'll find yourself back here. If you need to recover, go to the hotel in the second floor. When ready, head to the Theme Park. There will be a boss at the entrance...you might want to wear Blind protection. -Boss- What do you know! The big kitty comes for a remach. Aside from a boost on Hp, it is the same as back at the Marshlands. By this point, Tio will have either Galion Tower and Avalon Gate, or just Galion Tower. Either way is fine, though Galion Tower is more than enough. Up Ats and blast the poor kitty. A couple of those with Analyze/Cobalt Sphere in the mix and Whiskers will be playing with a yarn ball in whatever passes for heaven on Zemuria. -Boss- ...and another once you enter. You may want to go back to the hotel to heal. Wear some anti-Poison stuff. -Boss- It's the plant gang's turn. Dark Matter will cut it. -Boss- After the fight, head to the Castle of Mirrors...but not before another fight. Be cheap and recover at the hotel. -Boss- And last but not least, it is the Dragon from waaaaaaay back at chapter 1. Again, Avalon Gate/Galion Tower and he is toast. -Boss- Back to the hotel to heal, then proceed to... #Castle of Mirrors# There are some treasures you have to get on this go, since there is no other chance to get them later, one of them is a monster chest, the other has a master quartz. When you reach the Rest Point, do not examine the center Mirror, for it will trigger the next boss battle, and afterwards, there is no returning here. Once ready, though, examine the middle mirror to fight the chapter boss. Equip your team with Death protection, and make sure you've got a full Bust Gauge. It will help. If you intend to win the next fight, cook some Four Tomato Pizzas (Hot Hot Pizza's Unexpected result), and equip Tio with a Gladiator Belt. -Boss- You don't have to win this fight, but it'll be really cool to teach this creep a lesson. What can you do, mister? 1. Normal slash. Damaging, nothing you haven't felt before. 2. Wide slash. A-o-e. Can cause Death. 3. Jumping slash. Also, a-o-e, can cause Faint. 4. He can up both Str and Spd. Do NOT allow him to do so. 5. Slashing combo. A-o-e, will chop about 2/3rds from ALL characters (ouch!) 6. An S-craft. A-o-e. VERY powerful, can kill whoever it hits, especially if he put some extra Str. This fight is simillar to the one from the begining of the chapter, meaning: you don't have to actually WIN. However, that will net you A LOT of experience and the ever so important extra DP at the end of the chapter. So to beat this guy, you will have to treat him more or less like the Monster from the begining of the chapter. In this fight, however, you have 2 things to your advantage. First, that there is no time limit, you can take your time to ponder what to do, and second, you got that lovely Bust Gauge. So there are 2 parts to this fight: Bust part: Right from the begining you will only need to perform one attack on our boss to fill the Bust Gauge completely. Then, with the next character you will activate it. During this phase, you will have to lower his Def and Ats with Tio's Analize while Lloyd and Randy improve Elie's Ats. As soon as Elie's turn comes, she is to blast the boss with her most powerful art available. If properly debuffed, you will chop about 6300 Hp from his total 69000 (give or take). You must take the chance to blast him with as many arts as possible from all the party, but especially those from Elie and Tio. However, don't waste any Bust regeneration items since there is another boss that will need this approach. If you can, lower his Spd too to help yourself. This phase won't last long. Regular fight: After the Bust Gauge has done its thing and the battle goes back to normal, you will probably have brought him to around 24000Hp or close. From here on, it is like with the boss from the begining of the chapter: Lloyd will be the one to absorb the boss' attention/attacks by pulling him away fromt he party with his Raging Spin craft. On her first chance, Tio is to cast Zero Field on the party, for even if the boss will mostly focus on Lloyd, he is still a fast fella, and some of his attacks will hit other party members for huge damage. Like with the Monster, he will sort-of warn you when he is about to decimate you with his S-craft, at wich point you got a 50-50 chance that he will only target Lloyd. That is why it is important for everyone to stick to their rolls, which are: Lloyd - Pull him away from the party with Raging Spin. Randy - Feed Cp regeneration items to Tio so she can use both Analyze and Zero Field, and feed Elie with any food item that increases Ats. Tio - Analyze the boss, and keep the party on Max Guar status. If she has it use Adam's Guard on Lloyd, since he is the one who will mostly take the heat. Elie - Cast every turn her most powerful art. This is your main source of damage. The boss is faster than the Monster, but since you don't have to kill him under a time limit, he is easier. When he has less than 10000Hp, you can consider bombarding him with S-crafts to finish this quickly. Regarding his weakness to AT Delay, even if tempting, you have to be above his level (that is beyond lv110) or close to be able to Delay him successfully. As with the Monster fight, this one involves a bit of luck, and there are a lot of scene before and after the fight in case you have to redo. Good luck. -Boss- After the kick ass scenes, chapter is over. O7. Geofront Sector C Monster [CH4O7] DP - 4 Available on Day Two. The target is located in the boss room which you can access very quickly at this point. Wear Faint and Blind protection. -Boss- 3 orbal gears. They can knock you back with their punches, which have a slight chance to Faint you, and hit an a-o-e with their bombs, which Blind you. other than that, up Ats and blast them with water arts or Combo Crafts. Not much else will do, and it is not really necessary. They are junk. -Boss- O8. The Guy Bannings Murder [CH4O8] (HIDDEN) DP - 5, 7 max if you get all answers right (+2) Available on Day Two. It will happen between the events between the Bracer's Guild at East Street and the events at Revache Association. Go to the cementery at the back of the Crossbell Cathedral and talk to Nielsen who is in front of Guy's tomb. You have to answer all questions correctly to get max DP: Q1 - Couldn't have been both (3rd choice) Q2 - Unlikely (2nd choice) Q3 - Guy was cautious, it was well known person (3rd choice) O9. Crossbell City Attack [CH4O9] DP - 5, 12 max if you manage to beat the boss (+7 DP) The way this one works is: Finish the battle by doing nothing but waiting 'til time's up - no bonus Finish the battle by taking 1/3rd of the boss' Hp (time runs out) - +1 DP Finish the battle by taking 2/3rds of the boss' Hp (time runs out) - +5 DP Finish the battle by actually defeating this Monster - +7 DP So you got your work cut out for you. This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter O10. Support Requests [CH4O10] DP - 4 This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter O11. The Crossbell Independance Declaration [CH4O11] DP - 6, 11 max if you beat the boss of the chapter (+5) The way this one works is: Finish the battle by being slain at the begining - no bonus Finish the battle by taking half of the boss' Hp (he kills you) - +1 DP Finish the battle by leaving him with 10000Hp or less (he kills you) - +3 DP Finish the battle by actually defeating this 2nd Monster - +5 DP The programmers seem to like pitting you against powerful, near-unbeatable opponents on this game. This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Fragment - Beyond the False Paradise [FRG] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ O1. Jailbreak [FRGO1] DP - 5 #Prison# Your party will consist of Lloyd and a Thug. Notice also that none of them has any equipment on their persons, so you won't be fighting at full potential. However, if you managed to defeat the boss from the previous chapter, then in all likelihood Lloyd will be at lv85, in which case he will be really tough and will survive with ease trough all the battles with only an occational need to heal. Each battle in this place is mandatory, so you won't miss an enemy if you are trying to complete the Monster book. To be able to analyze them though, you have to check one of the cells on the 3rd floor (where you start) to get 10 Battle Scope items. Here are the battle so you know what you'll be fighting: 1st battle takes place at the end of the hall when leaving your cell. -Boss- You will face 1 machine gun soldier and 1 halberd. Nothing hard. Focus on one at a time, begining with the halberd who can do the most damage. -Boss- 2nd battle takes place as soon as you arrive at the 2nd floor. -Boss- 1 machine gun, 1 halberd and 2 dogs. Use Lloyd's Raging Spin and the Thug's 3rd craft to dispach them quickly. -Boss- 3rd battles happens when you enter the guard room on the 2nd floor. -Boss- These time, you are up against 2 machine guns, 2 halberds and 2 dogs. Same deal as before. -Boss- 4th and last battle occurs by the exit of this place. When ready to dispose of the last guard on your path, just choose the 1st option. -Boss- This could be the toughest fight, since you'll be fighting 3 machine guns, 2 halberds and 3 dogs...but if you position those Raging Spins and the Thug's spining kick, you will mop the floor with them, since the Thug's craft can inflict Faint with a good probability. -Boss- Afterwards, check the only available room for the switch for the door and a chest with Lloyd's equipment. Once you get out to Knox Woodland Road though, the Thug will leave your party. #Knox Woodland Road# This place is a solo mission for Lloyd, but even if you missed the exp from the Chapter 4 boss, Lloyd will still be able to masacre all those punny enemies from waaaaaaay back at Chapter 1. Your goal is to get to the second screen of this place to where the rope leading to Knox Woodlans is. After the battles, there are some rather interesting scenes, and afterwards it is Final Chapter time! This one is contabilized at the end of the Chapter. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Chapter 5 - And Still We Remain [CH5] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Early. [CH5S1] #The Airship Merkaba# Wadi will rejoin now, and he comes with a new S-craft (le good). Also, you get Loner to help you. (le jay!) Go to the bridge and speak to Abbas to proceed to Ursula Byroad. #Ursula Byroad# You must go down the road to the St. Ursula Hospital to proceed, but not before getting rid of the guardian, which is found one screen before the hospital. Wear Seal and Faint protection. -Boss- It's remach against the gaint turtle. You already know what it does. Both Lloyd and Wadi have crafts that can cancel its beam attack, but be sure they are within range to do so (especially Wadi). Like before, the boss is weak to mirage arts, therefore, Loner will be the main offence, since our new addition to the team can use Avalon Gate, and has enough Ep to fire it consistently. Lloyd and Wadi are to help our ally by supplying with Fortuna/food items that increase Ats. Since both Lloyd and Wadi are fast, they can heal with items. -Boss- #St. Ursula Medical College# There is a mandatory fight as soon as you enter. Nothing complicated, just 2 machine guns and 2 halberds. Afterwards, Tio, Cecile and Fran will join, Fran will go to the Merkaba. Go and pay a visit to both Donovan and Ilia on the 3rd floor, then return to the garage and back to the Merkaba. #The Airship Merkaba# Talk to both Fran and Abbas for some extra stuff. 4 subquest become available. You can check/report them by using the terminal on the lounge of the ship. Your next destination is Armorica Village. #Armorica Village# Talk to the Mayor in his house, then to Harold at the inn. Head then to the Ancient Battlefield. #Ancient Battlefield# On the second screen of this place is the boss. -Boss- 2 cougars, 1 riflemen and a sword guy. They are resitant, but not particularly hard. Just use the Dark Matter clustering method and focus first on the cougars which are the ones that can cause Death. -Boss- After the battle, you will get a combo craft with Big Sword. Your next destination is in the Mainz Mountain Road. Note: If you return here and check the underground passage, you'll find one of Heiyue's goons. Talk to him, and after some scenes, you'll get a Bust Recover! #Mainz Mountain Road - Branching Point# When you reach the Doll Studio stop there will be some events, then you have to go back to the drop point. After the short scene, proceed towards the tunnel. Be careful though, for some jerk left mines lying around. They are those red things you can barley see. They can cause some damage, so try your best to avoid them. Save as soon as you exit the tunnel. There is a boss fight ahead of you. Wear Death protection. -Boss- This time you will be facing against 6 cougars, and a Sniper. Dispose of the cougars as you've done before. The sniper cannot be killed or Analyzed, and he is there only to annoy you. His shots carry a good chance to inflict Death, aside from being damaging, so be careful. -Boss- Some scenes later, you'll be back at the Merkaba with Randy and Grace among the crew. Oh! And Randy gets to use that big rifle of his as a new S-craft. Yeah! #West Crossbell Highway# Before proceeding, go to the Inn at Mainz and talk to Ryukka to get the Positive Agnes Vol.12. You must now go to Bellguard Gate, but there is an optional scene at the Police Academy you might want to check. However, getting to Bellguard Gate will be easier if you go back 2 screens towards Crossbell City to the derailment area. Through there you'll be able to get to Bellguard Gate. Just follow the tracks, nabbing the treasures around. #Bellguard Gate# After the scenes, a battle. -Boss- A one on one duel for Lloyd. You opponent can Delay you and cast Mov and Str Down, so you might have some trouble if you ain't careful. Relay on Lloyd's crafts to up Str, but stay clear of Burnig Heart, since it will hinder you for one turn when the effect wears off. Go physical for this fight, and heal with items (Tiaral Balms) whenever you have less than 9000Hp for the boss' S-craft can kill you if you otherwise. Overall, not much to this fight, it is just a story-related slugfest. -Boss- Noel will join your party, and get a new S-craft in the proccess. #The Airship Merkaba# Before proceeding to Mishram, be sure to get protection against Blind and Death, since a lot of the enemies you'll find in here love to use those 2 status effectws. #Mishram Health Resort# You have to get to the mansion while facing off the enemies. 1st battle takes place at the beach. You will face 1 sword, 2 riflemen and 3 cougars. -Boss- Relay on the Dark Matter-Power Smash method to ensure your party gets as many turns as possible. Get rid of the cougars first if possible, for they are the most annoying. If either Tio or Wadi have the time art Shadow Apocriphus, now is the time to use it, despite the cost. By now you should have a lot of Ep recovery items. -Boss- 2nd fight takes place as you try to leave the beach through the north exit. You'll be against 3 cougars, 2 rifles and 2 swords. -Boss- Same deal as before, Dark Matter, Power Smash, then Shadow Apocriphus. -Boss- 3rd takes place at the arcade, before the entrance to the hotel. Your enemies for this round are 4 cougars, 2 rifles and 2 swords. -Boss- With so many enemies, it is imperative that you Delay as many as possible, otherwise the damage done to your party will escalate quickly. Remove the cougars from the picture asap, then focus on the humans. -Boss- Before proceeding you can recover at the hotel. 4th battle occurs at the Villa area. You will fight 3 cougars and 1 big cougar. -Boss- Big cougars are just a stronger version of the regular ones (figures). Chances are, that the smaller ones will die before the big one, if they stayed away from you Dark Matters/Shadow Apocriphus. -Boss- Back to the hotel to recover. 5th battle happens before the mansion gates, you will face off against 2 big cougars, 2 rifles and one powered up sword. -Boss- Because of the endurance of most of the enemies, the two riflemen will be the ones to fall first, followed by the sword, who cannot be Delayed, btw. The big cougars will last longer than their human counterparts. -Boss- Hotel, save, and back here. Enter the mansion to fight the boss of this place. #Reception Hall# As soon as you enter, there is a battle. -Boss- One big robo-samurai who comes with 2 small robo-helpers. Here is what they can do: Samurai 1. Missile voley, a-o-e. I don't know, but it might cause Burn. 2. Charging smash on one character. 3. Stealth mode (you fu...!). Becomes invisible and casts Hp Regen on himself. 4. Summon more helpers. Helpers 1. Healing the boss. 2. Using a line earh art. Has to charge it. Since only the helpers can be debuffed, buff your party and pelt them with water arts. If you have the a-o-es and or line ones, then you can blast both the boss and its helpers. Have either Lloyd or Wadi at the ready to cancel the helpers' arts though. -Boss- After the battle, Elie, Jonah and Mr. Macdowell will join you. Back to the Merkaba. #The Airship Merkaba# Elie gets a new S-craft. Talk to Jonah, he becomes the navigator. Now, after some long scenes, the airship will move to the booster point. O1. Ursula Byroad Monster [CH5O1] DP - 5 The target is located on the screen with the entrance to the jungle area. It is a green dragon. -Boss- You'll fight 3 green dragons. They can inflict blind, so come prepared. Go at them with crafts, since they will cancel any art thrown their way. -Boss- You'll get a lv4 quartz. O2. Old Armorica Road Monster [CH5O2] DP - 5 The target is located in the small field adjacent to the main road, on the screen with the entrance to the Ancient Battlefield. It is a purple beholder enemy. -Boss- 4 beholders. As with these sort of fights, reduce their numbe with Combo Crafts and then finish off whoever remains. -Boss- You'll get a lv4 quartz. O3. Mainz Mountain Road Monster [CH5O3] DP - 5 The target is located inside the tunnel, on the small alcove accessed by taking the northern branching when reaching the crossroad at the middle of the tunnel. It is a giant purple insect. -Boss- 5 insects. Combo Craft, and finish of the remains with arts or a-o-e crafts. -Boss- You'll get a lv4 quartz. O4. West Crossbell Highway Monster [CH5O4] DP - 5 The target is located just above the access point to the Merkaba, by the western exit. It is the big blue hydra. -Boss- 6 blue hydras will be your enemies. They are weak to air arts. Nothing hard, really. Exploit Randy's Power Smash II to Delay as many as possible, while the rest of the party slowly kills them with air arts, upping Ats with Fortuna. -Boss- You'll get a lv4 quartz. Middle. [CH5S2] Note: From this point onward, you will have an extra character around, and only 6 can fit in the party at any given time. Only Wadi, Noel and Big Sword can be made to "sit the bench", the four original S.S.S. guys (Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy) must always be on the party, either active or support. Should you wish to change one of the three other for the one on reserve, talk to Abbas on the bridge and choose the 3rd option. When ready to move on, talk to Abbas at the bridge and choose the 2nd option. #Temple of the Moon# Before coming here, there are some optional stuff you can get at St. Ursula by talking to Cecile and the people in the 3rd floor. In particular, the patient in room 302 will give you the Positive Agnes Vol.13 book. When done, head to the Temple of the Moon, but save before approaching, for there is a battle at the gate. -Boss- These 2 robots will try to put you to sleep with their attacks, so bring adecuate protection. Target their weaknesses. -Boss- Inside this place, you have to find two Moon Jewels located on the East and West wings respectively. But to open the door to the chambers where they are kept, you most first defeat the respective boss of the area. East wing: -Boss- 2 lion robots. They can inflict Death, which is annoying as hell. Focus on one at a time. -Boss- West wing: -Boss- These two strange robots will suck some Cp with their attacks, and cancel your arts. So go with physicals and crafts unless Elie is with you, in which case you should relay on her Strike Bell craft to use your offensive arts. -Boss- With both jewels in your possession, go back to the chapel and place them on the altar. Then climb to the central door. Inside is a Rest Point, and on the rooftop the true boss of this place. -Boss- This is one seriously annoying fight. These...dancing monkey matches the Phantom Thief and Bell of Illusion from Sora no Kiseki SC in ability to piss me off. Let us see why: 1. His normal attack can hit you Anywhere on the battlefield. It doesn't seem to have a range restriction. 2. He has an atttack that will transform the target into a...green chili. (I'll refrain from sarcastic comments on this one, use your immagination) This attack lasts for a few turns and cannot be avoided or dispelled, and you will have no other available command but Attack (propperly debuffed). 3. Shuffle. He will teleport all party members to random points on the battlefield. You will need a good Mov stat to get back at him after this. 4. He will cast an...illusion barrier, which will swap him for a random party member if you use an S-craft on him. 5. His S-craft, which is quite damaging. Add to this the fact that he has over 35000Hp and an inherent Art Reflect barrier, and this will be a loooong fight. Not hard, just annoying. To shut up this obnoxious creep, you will need to relay on Lloyd's Burning Heart-Raging Spin craft combo and Big Sword's claw craft (the one that pulls the enemy) to harm the boss consistently. Meanwhile, your supports will have to keep them buffed, since the boss is totally immune to status effects and debuffs. When he transforms someone into a chili, just keep hitting him even if the damage is laughable. Inflict enough damage so that he crosses the 20000Hp mark and his Art Reflect barrier will vanish, leaving him at the mercy of your Shadow Apocriphus/Galion Tower. Keep at him and eventually you'll win...but not before he makes you reaaaally angry at him. -Boss- After the scenes, got to Ursula Byroad and head to Stargaze Tower. #Stargaze Tower# I advise to stick to the original S.S.S. party (Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy) for this place, bringing as support Noel and Wadi. This combination is very effective in here. Just a suggestion. There's a scene at the entrance, then a battle. -Boss- Meet the robo gorillas the boss of this place likes to put on your way. They are easy, you just need Elie's Thunder Cyclone air art. Fortuna may not be necessary. Two of those will have them malfunctioning. Next. -Boss- Scale the tower, there is a battle on the 3rd floor. -Boss- One axe knight and 2 robo gorillas. What Axe can do: 1. Normal hit on one character, not that damaging. 2. Randy-style Delay (meaning a small a-o-e). 3. Casting a Max Guard-Regen combo. The most annoying, axe get's a 3-hit worth of Max Guard and a 5-turns Regen. If you have (and you should) the Bust Gauge properly filled, then just use it and dispose of the gorillas with Thunder Cyclone, and chop a good deal of the knight's Hp in the process. After the Bust Gauge has done its thing, switch to Shadow Apocriphus, which by now both Elie and Tio should have, with Fortuna in the mix, obviously. When the boss uses its Max Guard-Regen combo, just use physicals with everyone to get rid of it quickly of the Max Guard. The damage of crafts and arts should be enough to render axe's Regen unimportant. -Boss- Leave through the door to the left, there is a battle. -Boss- 2 robo gorillas. You know what to do to them by now. (Yawn) -Boss- Get the two light balls and place them on the scale in the middle of the room where you fought the last boss to proceed up the tower, there is another battle. Bring Death protection. -Boss- Archer will come at you...form affar at first. Our knight in turn will let the two robo gorillas do the job first while raining arrows from above (wuss). Once you've malfunctioned the gorillas, Archer will jump into the fray. This is what our not-so-eager to fight knight does: 1. Snipe arrow. Only done while the gorillas are alive. Can cause Death. 2. Red arrow. Done when on the ground, can cause Faint. 3. Multi-arrows. A-o-e. 4. Purple arrow. Death arrow, essencially. If you wait until Archer is at beating-level to use the Bust Gauge, you will most certainly leave this cowardly knight with one foot on the grave. Archer is comparatively weaker than Axe, so after you teach your lesson with the Bust Gauge it is only a matter of a few Shadow Apocriphus blasts to move on with the game. -Boss- Get to the 6th floor and use the much-needed Rest Point, then ascend the ramp for another (you've guessed it) boss. -Boss- Sword knight and the reglamentary 2 robo gorillas. Right of the bat bring up the Bust Gauge, obliterate the gorillas and seriously hurt Sword. I'm not kidding, by this point, and especially if you got to lv95, you will be chopping big chunks of the boss' Hp with each art/craft. Sword will join the other two reaaally quickly. -Boss- And finally, on the rooftop of this place, is the true head honcho of this joint. Now, this next fight is one of those that you don't have to actually win, just survive until you've chopped a certain ammount of Hp in orther to continue with the story. Yet even that won't be an easy task, for the next boss is one ubberpowerful creature. So, no matter if you want to defeat charming here, or just attepmting to survive until the required Hp mark has been crossed, preparations are in orther. For this fight, Faint protection is a MUST. You don't want a character being Fainted. Period. You will need a healthy supply of Ep Chargers III. Yes, the best ones available. Trust me. Have both the Bust Gauge and the Cp gauges of all 4 party members FULL. This is imperative. Equip Tio with a Glaidator Belt (VERY important). Next, some cooking is in orther. The two most importan recipes for this fight are the Hot Hot Pizza and the Soft Choco. You will need to make at least 10 Four Tomato Pizzas (Hot Hot Pizza's Unexpected Result) and 10 Moon Chocolate Tarts (Soft Choco's Great Success). They are essencial. And last, but not least, all the Bust Up items you have. (Yes, you've read correctly). There should be about 9 of them, more than enough for 3 Busts. So, onward with the show. -Boss- This mighty overlord (no way I'm going to spoil this one!) is one serious piece of work. You may be fooled when you do the Analyze (but prefferrably the Battle scope, you can't waste Cp) into believing the overlord has "only" 59000Hp. That is a trap to make you overconfident, and don't the Falcom guys loooove to do that! Once you've managed to get this beast to 30000Hp or less, the sick bastard will bring itself back to full! (What?!) And on top of that, "it" will power up!!! (Holy s....!). And we haven't even looked at what sort of kindness this one can dispense... Let's see: 1. A "normal" attack. Can chop 1/3rd of a charcter with High Def's Hp. 2. A flurry of attacks. This one can chop half (ouch) 3. Charge. A-o-e and can do 1/3rd of total Hp to the Whole Party if overlord catches them on a group. 4. Spin attack. Huge a-o-e. Damaging too. 5. Lighting flash. Hits the whole damn battlefield. The "least damaging"of the lot. 6. Cream of the cake: the all-hitting, one-way ticket to defeat, really cool S-craft. If it hits, it is annihilation. Period. Let us assume that you want to WIN this fight, as in bringing the boss' Hp to 0. Prepare to be around for about 30 to 40 minuntes. I'm not kidding you. This boss outlevels you by 25 levels, if you took the time to level up on the way here. That means a Def and Adf status you will need more than a smile to overcome. However, this mighty being IS beatable, just like the other 2 from chapter 4. This is what you should do: Phase One Let us call this the mandatory part for the sake of progressing the game. There are two approaches. A - You don't care what happens once you've inflicted the necessary ammount of damage for the overlord to "get serious". Right of the bat use that Bust Gauge you love to fling as many Shadow Apocriphus as possible, with both Elie and Tio having their Ats buffed to red status. With luck, you may be able to fire 3 of them, leaving the overlord one more art away from...taking the gloves of, sort of speaking. You will have to use Tio's Zero Field at least once to survive the boss' S-craft and allow Elie to squeeze that final Shadow Apocriphus. After the boss powers up, you can just sit back and enjoy the kick ass battle them while the overlord makes mince meat out of your party. B - You will have to relay on items to buff Elie and Tio so they can fire those 4 Shadow Apocriphus needed to cross the required damage mark. DO NOT use the Bust Gauge. It is needed for the next phase of the fight. This translates in the necessity to use Lloyd's Raging Spin to move the boss as far away from the others as possible and taking the brunt of the damage, so one of your other party members will have to squeeze a Tiaral (Balm or art) for his sake. You will need to use Zero Field at least once to survive overlord's S-craft. Don't worry, our "nice" boss will warn you about it by taking 2 turns in a row, one to taunt (or rather mock) you. Even with the damage you'll be incurring, it won't take long for things to get interesting. This is the "easy" part. Phase two ...or how to manage the daunting task of winning. It will take a lot of your resources. Once the flames are pouring from the overlord (literaly) you have to iniciate the Bust asap. Re-cast Ats Up on Elie and Tio and then fire as many Shadow Apocriphus as possible during it. Once the Bust fades, use the next 3 turns, except Elie's, she is to use another Shadow Apocriphus, to recharge the Bust Gauge with the help of your Bust Up items. Tio will need to use Zero Field once again even if there are a few party members with Max Guard still on them. ALL must survive. Once the Bust Gauge is filled, activate and Shadow Apocriphus until it is empty. Rinse and repeat. During this stage of the fight, Lloyd and Randy will have to supply our lady art-users with Ep Charger III items to keep up the onslaught. Once there are no more Bust Up items and the Bust Gauge is empty for good, the boss will be around half its Hp. Yes, all that just to chop HALF ITS GD HP! Now comes the part involving luck. You will have to use Lloyd again as bait with his Raging Spin, while Randy and Tio take care of the defensive part. They will need to recharge Tio's Cp by using Four Tomato Pizzas, which can charge 95 Cp, compounded with the effect of the Glatiator Belt. They will also be in charge of giving Elie Ep Chargers and Moon Chocolate Tarts so she can have those Shadow Apocriphus cominmg in a steady flow. Since at this point the boss' attacks get a bit random, you will have to use Zero Field before the overlord takes its turn, even if it only uses the "minor" attacks and not its S-craft. Take no chances. You need around 18 or 20 Shadow Apocriphus to beat this mighty one. And if Lloyd isn't killed before the end, you can have him, Randy and Elie deploying those new S-crafts they should have by now. Hang in there, and good luck. -Boss- The boss coughs a Ceramic Capsule (neat!) when defeated, gives 9999 exp to all active party members (thank you!), and rewards you with some interesting scenes hinting at stuff to happen on the next game as well as a Record. So yes, all those resources and hard work DO pay off. But if you want an easier time with this one, there is no shame in waiting until a 2nd playthrough. Thumbs up if you won, as well as a pat in the back. (I know I deserve it). Late Half. [CH5S3] #The Airshp Merkaba# At this point, the character with the highest bond with Lloyd will have his/her crafts upgraded. However, it is sort of optional, for you will be given the choice to say No (n/c, since it might have been that I spoke to my chosen recipient of new power after talking with all the others). Make sure you have everything you need from the Merkaba's shops. Anyway, you will head autommatically to Crossbell City once the scenes are over. #Crossbell City# Surprise! There is a boss. -_- -Boss- 3 fully armed golems like those from Stargaze Tower. They are pushovers, one good Shadow Apocriphus from Elie and they are history. Their attacks can inflict Faint, though. -Boss- After the scene, Dudley joins the party. You can move freely about the city watching scenes, leveling up a bit and making preparations, but to get on with the show you have to go to the S.S.S. bulding and check your car at the garage. However, I advice to roam a bit around the city since there is a lot to do that will be of help. There is a scene in which you'll get a Record if you've been collecting those useful Combo Crafts. Now, go out of this place to attend to some extra stuff before proceeding. Talk to Pete at the grocery store on West Street, with Quint at the graveyard in the Cathedral, and finally one at the Law Firm to earn some extra DP (+3). Next go to the second floor of the Crossbell Times for a scene, then to the Old Dragon inn on East Street, and exit through the stairs at the back of the bar. Follow the path outside and there will be a scene. If you examine the woodden boards lying on the wall at the end of the road after the scene you'll get an extra scene worth some additional DP (+2). There is an optional scene at the S.S.S. building if you built up a bond with KeA by giving her the White Stone during the Intermission. There are also a few scenes on the Arc-en-ciel theater if you bring Rixia. Another at the Trinity bar if Wadi is with you. One at the Bracer's Guild, and several extra dialogues if you visit Acacia Apartments on East Street with Noel in your party, talk to Oscar at the Bakery on West Street and with Lloyd's aunt at the Bellheim Aprtments also on West Street. One last set of dialogues with the man at the front desk of the Libray on Admin Plaza and with Wendy at the Orbal Store on Central Square. And the manager of the Department Store will freeload an Aseru Balm. To proceed with the story, you have to examine the orbal car on the garage at the S.S.S. HQ. Then, you have to go to the Train Station. When you check the "!" mark at the doors, you will be prompted to make a choice: 1. Enter, and proceed with the story. or 2. Wait and wander around the city completing the other stuff you might have missed. Once inside, go all the way to the back of the boardig platforms to those stairs that connect them. Through them, you will be able to access platform number 3. Go to the front car and check the "!" mark to enter and proceed with the story. #Orkis Tower# After the scenes (soooooo cool!), you'll be in here. Choose your party members and proceed to the only available elevator. You will reach a new place called the Mystic Core (impresive stuff in here). You have to ascend this place, but in here you can get a new S-craft for Tio, so search well. It is located behind a red door on the second set of side rooms close to a Rest Point. When you reach the second segment, the after the second elevator ride, beware fo the multicolor light in some parts, it will drain Ep from all characters. Once you reach the 30th floor, you will find a Rest Point. From here one, there are no more enemies. so climb at your leasure. When you reach the 36th floor, there will be some scenes with Director Pierre, and another with Shizuku in the room next to the door to the elevator you must see to proceed. Lloyd will get a new weapon there. Ride the elevator to the roof (floor 41st). You can save before climbing the round platform at the top of the tower. Before proceeding, cook some Four Tomato Pizzas (Hot Hot Pizza's Unexpected Result), and equip Tio with a Gladiator Belt. Climb the ramp to the platform, watch the scenes, and face the boss! -Boss- Big, strong, powerful and lots of Hp (81000 or so). This "should" be a long fight, but it is in fact very simple. First the usual, what are you getting thrown your way: 1. Dispel missiles. A-o-e, they cancel all buffs. 2. Classic anime-style 2-handed robo-punch. A-o-e, knock back plus Faint. 3. Barrier. Cast Craft Barrier (crafts do no damage) and Art Reflect. 4. Super energy blasting, ultra magical cannon (just kidding...too much anime). Line attack, one-way ticket to GAME OVER...most of the time. Seems like this is one of those bosses, right? Wrong! This one is hoplessly easy with very little preparation. Bring a full Bust Gauge, use it at the begining. Buff you party's Str, Ats and Spd, then start with them Shadow Apocriphus until the gauge is empty, then cast a Zero Field with Tio. While the girls keep the arts comming, Lloyd and Randy take turns using their S-crafts and feeding themselves (and Tio, just in case) some Four Tomato Pizzas to recover their Cp. Buffed, you'll be looking at 7000+ of damage, and the Shadow Apocriphus will do something similar. The boss will have no time to do much. Talk about humilation... -Boss- There will be some scenes, then you can save. O5. Reuniting with your commrades [CH5O5] DP - 8 This one is contabilized after the battle at the top of Orkis Tower. O6. Capture the Temple and Tower [CH5O6] DP - 6, 11 max if you manage to beat the boss of the tower, which is also no mean feat (+5) This one is contabilized after the battle at the top of Orkis Tower. O7. The Crossbell City Release Strategy [CH5O7] DP - 10, 15 max if you see all required scenes before entering Orkis Tower (+5) This one is contabilized after the battle at the top of Orkis Tower. By "required scenes" I mean: all the Nielsen-related scenes, as well as the optional scenes that occur during your visit to Crossbell City before climbing Orkis Tower. Now, there are 2 important questions you might be asking yourself: who is this Nielsen character? And: which scenes? Nielsen is a reporter investigating some stuff. There are 3 Optional Quests involving him. They are [CH1O10], [CH3O10], and [CH4O8]. The one we are concerned is the last, you have to have seed that one. The scenes are the ones related to Ian the lawyer, one with the boy Pete at the grocery store on West Street, the next with the graveyard keeper Quint at the graveyard in the back of Crossbell Cathedral, another by examining the door of Ian's Law Firm on West Street, the fourth by talking to the people at the Crossbell Times 2nd floor, and the last by checking the boards lying on the wall on the path outside the kitchen door of the Old Dragon restaurant on East Street. Watching all these scenes will net you max DP for this quest (15) as well as a Record. So search well! :) Final Treck. [CH5S4] #Odds and ends# First, at this point you will receive some items from either Fran, Cecile, Ilia or Shuri if you boosted Lloyd's bond with them during the Intermission. As many other stuff in the game, you cannot see/get all the stuff on a single playthrough. You can get both the final volume of Positive Agnes (14) from the Junk Shop at Old Town, the 5 Zemuria Stone fragments and the Zemuria Stone. What is needed for the book: 3 Kagemaru Hoods (from the Casino) 3 Kagemaru Feather Coats (Department Store) 3 Kagemaru Leather Sandals (Department Store) The Fragments are located in the following locations: 1. The rooftop of Orkis Tower. 2. Talk to Kevin after the scene in Armorica Village's Inn with Wadi in your party. 3. After the scene in Mainz, talk to Joshua at the Inn. 4. Visit the Mirror Castle in Mishram's Wonderland, go to the final room and check the piezes lying in front of the gaint mirror. 5. Go to the second screen of West Crossbell Highway starting from Bellguard Gate and check the debries in the middle of the burnt patch. Get the Zemuria Stone by bringing all 14 volumes of the Positive Agnes series to the fortune teller on the Hotel at Mishram. And with the Stone and the 5 Fragments, visit Guillaume in his workshop to forge some serious weapons! Ammong the optional scenes you can see, there is one at the 36th floor with President Dieter, one with Garcia if you talk to the clerk at the Police Academy, another with Sonya in the roof of Bellguard Gate. There is one if you talk to Pete in the Law Firm on West Street. Speak with Kevin and Reis on the second floor of the inn at Armorica Village, visit Ilia in her room at St. Ursula with Rixia in your party, and lastly one final chat with Estelle at the hostel in Mainz. Lastly, if you performed well during the game, by this point you will reach Invesigator Rank 1, and earn a Record. Then it will be just a matter of clearing the last remaining quests to earn the Hero of the People Record. When ready to tackle the final dungeon, go to the Merkaba. O8. East Crossbell Highway Monster [CH5O8] DP - The target is located on the first screen when coming out of Tangram Gate. Big, red demon, can't miss it. -Boss- 6 red demons. The way you deal with them is simple. Use a Bust Gauge, then pelt them with the most powerful art you can use like Shadow Apocriphus, Avalon Gate and Gold High-Low (don't know the apt translation to that, it's the one with the widest a-o-e) while the other party members buff up Str and Ats. Before the gauge is empty, they will be on their last leg, at which point a well-placed Raging Spin will kill most of them. If there are any survivors, focus all power on them, they won't last long to a determined attack. -Boss- O9. Ancient Battlefield Monster [CH5O9] DP - The target is located waaaaaay back at the very end of the battlefield. Just go to the entrance of the Fort of the Sun, follow the left path to the end, and you will find the strange, big, black creature there. -Boss- 6 black...death spirits, or something (I have no clue what these chaps are). These fellas might look intimidating, but the are not. Just bring Death protection in case they get a chance to act. The way you deal with them is simple. Use a Bust Gauge, then pelt them with the most powerful art you can use like Shadow Apocriphus, Avalon Gate and Gold High-Low (don't know the apt translation to that, it's the one with the widest a-o-e) while the other party members buff up Str and Ats. Before the gauge is empty, they will be on their last leg, at which point a well-placed Raging Spin will kill most of them. If there are any survivors, focus all power on them, they won't last long to a determined attack. -Boss- O10. Knox Woodlands Monster [CH5O10] DP - The target is located one screen before the boss' screen (the wide-open space). It is the long-clawed, bear-looking brown thing. -Boss- 6...bears. The way you deal with them is simple. Use a Bust Gauge, then pelt them with the most powerful art you can use like Shadow Apocriphus, Avalon Gate and Gold High-Low (don't know the apt translation to that, it's the one with the widest a-o-e) while the other party members buff up Str and Ats. Before the gauge is empty, they will be on their last leg, at which point a well-placed Raging Spin will kill most of them. If there are any survivors, focus all power on them, they won't last long to a determined attack. -Boss- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Final Dungeon [FDN] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ So this is it, the last treck of the game, and boy is it an impressive succession of slugfests. Not to mention a trip down one of the best-looking dungeons since those of early Kingdom Hearts (at least, for the graphic engine of the PSP, I'm sooooo looking forward to Sen no Kiseki). Anyway, on with the show. #The Airship Merkaba# You'll begin your quest in your ship, and yes, you can still go wherever you want on the Crossbell Estate. Choose your party and leave through the deck. You'll be in... #The Great Azure Tree - Sanctuary Part 1# Mother Damn! That is one pretty impresive place. However awe-inspiring, it is not a complicated dungeon. As matter of fact, it is one straight road. For this part, you will find some golden crystals that will make some platforms move and create bridges. The first one will take you to a treasure containing a Fragment. If you have been collecting all of them, then you will be able to obtain a Record as soon as you take this one to Rebecca down at the C.S.P.D. building in Crossbell City. If not...your exploring skills need polishing. 5 screens from the begining, you'll find the first obstacle of this place, easily removable by engaging it. -Boss- Golden version of the Cat you've been fighting since chapter 3! Damn persistant creature. Furbal here comes together with 6 mirror enemies. That will make it a bit dangerous for you to use wide-area arts like Galion Tower and Avalon Gate, since if an art hits the mirrors it will bounce back to the caster, and 6 in a row...need I spell it to you? So focus first on the mirrors any way you see fit, since by this point Randy will have reached lv100, which means the triunfant return of the El-Cheapo tactic. However, if you want to "play nice" (yeah, right) just blast them with a-o-e crafts. Once Kitty is alone, an Ats-upped Avalon Gate will seriously hurt it. Keep the mirage arts coming ant this fight will be over really quick. -Boss- Once the cat is napping, proceed onward. 2 screens later, you'll find yourself on an area with no enemies. Follow the path to its end, and you'll trigger a scene before 3 gates. To proceed through the middle door, you need first to defeat the enemies at the end of the other two areas accessed by the gates. However, to open those gates, you'll need to have specific characters on your party. so do as Lloyd suggests and return to the Merkaba. But don't take the long way around (unless you want experience), just head south of the three gates and you'll find a golden crystal. Activate it and a platform will rise connecting the path to the one leading to the begining. So go back and heal. You can do the doors on any order you want, but the left one is the easiest, and the enemies are just above the level of those you've fought on your way here. Up to you. #The Great Azure Tree - Temple of the Beast# Bring Wadi to the left gate and you'll be able to access this place. As soon as you enter, you'll notice 2 things: one, that there is no way in hell this place fits what the average Joe has in mind when thinking of a temple, and second, that there are some strange circles of energy on the ground. Whatever you do, avoid stepping on them, for they will drain your Ep quickly. Don't worry though, for there is always a path around them, even if it is blocked by rocks, one of them will have cracks, indicating it can be broken with the Circle button. Search this place well, for there are weapons for Wadi, Noel and Dudley hidden in some chests. The path to the boss is located beneath a rock that covers the entrance to a cave on the westernmost edge of this place. Inside you will find the mandatory Rest Point. Equip Faint protection on your party members and ensure the Bust Gauge is filled. Then proceed. After the mandatory scene, it's boss time! -Boss- So Big Club is back, and with 2 little helpers too. They are upgraded versions of the black head enemies you can find on this place. Now, this time Big will meet you at full strength and won't chicken out after you've inflicted a certain ammount of damage. This is what our overgrown fella can do: 1. Old fashion meat-tenderizing technic, aka swing at you. A-o-e. 2. Jump and land with his monstrous knees on your party, also a-o-e. 3. Taunt. Does nothing, but he will have a consecutive turn next. 4. S-caft. Big nasty combo that can downright kill if you are not on lv105. A-o-e, so if the party is spread, most can avoid it. All his attacks inflict Faint. Our monstrous fella is vulnerable to space arts, so Wadi is a really useful option here. Start by using that handy Bust Gauge to buff up the party and to begin blasting the enemies with the widest a-o-e space arts available. Once the gauge is empty, the black heads will be close to death, finish them off before focusing your attention on the boss. When alone, use the strongest space art on him with Wadi, Tio, Elie and Dudley. Lloyd, Randy, Noel and Big Sword should pelt him with crafts, prefferably with Str up. Big Club has 74000+ Hp, but with a propperly buffed party you will kill him soon. Once he is on the 10000 Hp mark, give him some S-crafts to think it over. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- After finishing the boss, there are some scenes. If you wish to explore this area without the annoyance of the energy circles, now that the boss is defeated you can do so at your leasure. Otherwise, proceed to the teleporter at the back of the room to return to the Sanctuary Part 1 area. Before going to the next door, head back to the Merkaba to heal and switch party members so that all get an even chance to gain levels. #The Great Azure Tree - Temple of the Shades# Bring Big Sword to the right door in order to enter. There are not 50 shades here, only 2: day and night, you use the crystals lying around to switch between one and the other. Why you need to do it? Because there are 2 colors of bridges here, the yellow ones only appear during the day and the dark blue ones during the night. At first this place can be a little confusing, but it is quite easy really. you have to go around this place clockwise, that is, always to the left. The area is shaped like a circle, so there is no real way to get lost. Be sure to search this place to find a new big sword for Big Sword. Once you reach the Rest Point, save and equip Faint and Death protection and have the Bust Gauge filled, then proceed. As always, some scenes then the boss. -Boss- This time, it's Chainsaw's turn (the boss from chapter 3) to get a remach. This boss comes together with 2 red Hecatonqiros enemies (those with a lot of arms). Their attacks can inflict Faint. As for our little menace: 1. Slash. Hits only one. 2. Rifle. A-o-e. 3. Rushing slash. Line, small chance of causing Death. 4. Rifle-slash combo. Chance of causing Death. 5. S-craft. A-o-e, big chance of causing Death. Despite this boss' murder potential, all you need is Lloyd's Raging Spin to keep it in place. Use the Bust Gauge to buff and dispose of the huggers with mirage arts. Then focus your attention on the boss. It is fast, but not that hard, just make Lloyd and Randy converge, and Big Sword and Tio/Elie/Dudley or Wadi keep the mirage and time arts coming one after another. If you feel like playing it safe, use Tio's Zero Field to make the boss waste its attacks. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- Like before, the puzzle part of this area deactivates to make navigation a synch. For a quick return to the Sanctuary area, use the teleport in the back. #The Great Azure Tree - Sanctuary Part 2# Heal at the Merkaba and switch party members if you like, then proceed through the middle door. In this new area, you'll find new weapons for Elie and Tio. 6 screens later you'll find an old friend coming back for another round. -Boss- Another golden Kitty, this one with 6 octopus aliens as companions. You know how to play with Tails here. Next. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- After the battle you'll find a strange hexagonal platform in the middle of the area. This is an elevator that will take you down to the 3 gates area, allowing you to return to the Merkaba to heal. When ready, continue left and you'll find another door. This one requires Randy to enter. #The Great Azure Tree - Temple of Karma# This place is like a walk through hell, complete with busrts of fire to block your way and hurt you in the process. There are also a few burning rocks that block your path, and that you cannot break while on fire. To pass these type of obstacle, you need to deactivate some glowing red switches. Overall though, this charming place is not hard, and if you search well, you'll find a weapon for Randy. Once you reach the Rest Point, equip with Faint and Burn protection, advance to the end of this place to watch the mandatory scenes, and then... -Boss- ...it's payback time Monster! Our once-near-impossible boss from chapter 4 will fight you accompanied by 2 red rock enemies that can create a powerful wave of fire that will inflict Burn for sure if uprotected against it. As for the good ol'Monster himself: 1. Axe slash. Single attack. 2. Axe throw. Line. 3. Combo. A-o-e. 4. Spin attack. A-o-e, knocks back. 5. Randy-style War Cry. Gets 150 Cp and a Craft Guard (mother...!) 6. Next turn after War Cry, S-craft. It will no longer mean instant death, though this a-o-e attack can seriously cripple your party. It can inflict Burn. All his normal attacks will knock back the target(s) and cause Faint. Like with the previous bosses, be sure to come into this fight with a full Bust Gauge. As soon as you can, iniciate the Bust and start blasting the two red stones with Shadow Apocriphus, properly buffed with either Fortuna or food items. It is imperative you remove the stones fromt the picture asap so they do not mess with the strategy. Once you are alone with the boss, proceed to move him away from the party via Lloyd's Raging Spin while your art-users keep the Shadow Apocriphus coming. Randy should be in charge of maintaining the art-user's Ats Up status. Whenever you see the boss using War Cry, ensure that you use Zero Field right before his turn, especially if such turn is a Hp Heal turn, you don't want to prolong this more than necessary. In order to prevent the boss from getting those turns, save your S-crafts to S-break on those turns and squeez some extra damage as you recover yourself. Speaking of recovery, from this fight on, you'll be doing all healing with items, be it food or (preferably) Tiaral Balms. He has around 88000Hp, but with the damage the arts do to him it won't take long for the Monster to croak it. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- #The Great Azure Tree - Sanctuary Part 3# Last treck...of the main dungeon. You know the drill on this place, and remember: when you reunite for the third and final time with the golden Cat, you are home free. -Boss- Kitty's last (hopless) attempt at playing with you. This time, it comes together with 6 small round devils. Be a dear and put the poor Furbal out of its misery. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- After the cat you'll find an elevator that is the mandatory shortcut to the begining of this place, as well as the Merkaba. Once you are healed and have with you the party you want, enter the door on the north. Inside you'll find the last gate. #The Great Azure Tree - Temple of Ruling# This place is simple: you have to collect 3 keys that are kept inside monster chests and flip 3 levers so the road to the boss opens. In here you'll find Lloyd's last weapon. When you reach the boss room, and the Rest Point, make sure you have with you enough Four Tomato Pizzas and Moon Chocolate Tarts, as well as a full Bust Gauge. There will be a series of lengthy scenes, and you have to view each and every option that appear. Once all 4 have been seen, it's show time! -Boss- Last remach is against the last boss from chapter 4, who saw fit to include 2 of those white warriors you've encounter on your way here, one fighter and one archer. This is what he can do: 1. Stab. Normal attack. 2. Jumping slash. A-o-e. 3. Charging rush. Will hit all party members if they are close together. 4. Improved charging rush. After the normal version, he will ad a series of slashes on the first character he hit. 5. Power up. Str and Spd go up, figures. 6. The S-craft you remember from the previous battle. A-o-e. 7. A 2nd S-craft. All-hitter. As always, once you have the chance, use the Bust Gauge to buff your party and to remove the boss' allies from the picture. For this fight, your fighters should get up close and personal with the boss (Lloyd, Randy, Noel, Big Sword), while the art-users keep their Ats up and sending those Shadow Apocriphus at the boss. Whenever he taunts you, you must immediatly use Tio's Zero Field to protect your party. Keep the art-users away from the boss so they don't get hit often. Heal with items. This time you will be on par with the boss' level, so his 99000 Hp will be drained fast. >Boss succeptible to the El-Cheapo tactic if Randy is in the Active party. -Boss- Now is a good time to return to the Merkaba, and even Crossbell City to get stocked on cooking ingredients, which will be useful on the last battles of the game. Aside from the 2 food ites we've been using this whole time (Four Tomato Pizzas and Moon Chocolate Tarts) you need any sort of food item that can give a 50% boost on Str, another that can boost Spd, and one that can revive to full a fallen party member. If you can make food items that cover several of those stats, even better. Once healed and the Bust Gauge recharged, return to the last room of the Sanctuary Part 3 and use the big elevator. There will be some scenes, then you'll find yourself in... #The Great Azure Tree - Brink# Cool place. If this is what the Falcom guys can do with the graphic engine of a PSP, I'm itching to see what they can do with a PS3 and a Vita. Anyway. Your goal, and the last 3 bosses of the game are at the end of the shining blue path. No enemies, no fancy puzzles or obstacles, you just walk to the end and voila! You will be introduced to the last set of scenes before the final battles of the game begin. I advice you stick to the four original S.S.S. members for the final battles, though you should bring whoever you play the best with. At this point, and with lv5 master quartz, the four original heroes will be the strongest in Str and Ats, plus, Tio has Zero Field which has proven reaaaaaaally useful on this game. -Boss- First round is against this witch. She is a serious handful, but not particularly hard, or tough. The tricks with this fight are many, and will result in making it a loooong one. Why? Here's why: There are 2 types of enemies for this fight. One is the witch, the others are her minions (and they are not the cute, funny, yellow variety). The minions have only 2 attacks: 1. A sucking attack that will lower Str. 2. A blowing attack that only harms one character. No big deal, but then there are the witches': 1. Dark arrows. Her normal attacks, hurt only one. 2. A dark mist. A-o-e, lowers Spd and Def. 3. White tangles. Line, lower Spd and Mov. 4. Calling 2 lil'allies and make them beat up one character. And no, those two won't stay (thankfully!!). 5. Summoning 4 more minions to random locations on the battlefield. 6. Teleporting anyone that comes close to her to a random location on the battlefield. A pain in the... 7. Mocking you (these bosses nowdays have no respect). 8. Her S-craft. All-hitter. If a witch and her minios were your only concerns, this fight would not be that annoyingly long. Regretfully, you also have the battlefield against you. To better descrive it, I'll attempt to draw it: 3---+---4 l l l l l l l l l +---0---+ l l l l l l l l l 1---+---2 As you can see, this is a 3x3 square, where the widest area is the center, where incidentally you will find Ms. Witch (with a capital B). Your party members will begin the battle on the corners, and the boss will summon her minions to the 4 crossroads. She will keep summoning her minions until there are 8 of them, at which point your party's turns will come rarely. There is nothing you can do about it. Notice that I've numbered the corners. This is because each corner correspond to the order of the party members as appears on the Tactics menu. This means that, if your order on the Tacticts menu is Lloyd, Elie, Tio and Randy, then Lloyd will be on corner 1, Elie on 2, and so on. This is the trick to the whole strategy. Why? After the boss has summoned all 8 minions, every time you kill some, she will summon the new ones in the order of the corners. So what you have to do, is establish a base, a corner where all your party members are located. For the purpose of this strategy, I chose corner number 4, but 3 is still good. So, on with the show: Part 1: Establishing a base Two things you have to do: get everyone to the base, then use Dark Matters to pull the Witch to corner 1. If you can move the minios to corner 2 good, but don't risk it. Once the Witch is on corner one, start killing the closest minions ONE BY ONE. This is imperative, for it ensures she won't summon them on your corner, but don't worry if you blast 2 in the process, it is still safe to do so. The purpose of doing this is to lock the Witch in a loop, where she will be spending her turns mostly respawning minions next to her, thus saving you a lot of grief. The other minions can still hit you with their blowing attack, which lowers Str, but that can be easily removed with S-tablets and food items. Once the Witch is busy summoning minions, you can move on to the second part of this fight. Part 2: Offensive There are 2 methods for this part A - Crafts. The craft way will require that your 2 fighters should have long-range crafts, and preferrably the Gladiator Belt or Headband. Remember, Tio will be using one of the Belts. You might be tempted to go all out and use the Pizzas to fuel a full-scale onslaught of S-crafts, but I advice against that, since the next boss will be a better target for those. So just up Str and Spd. Lloyd: Has an advantage since his Burning Heart craft will charge Str, Spd and Def, plus will remove any debuff the enemies inflict on him. He also has Brave Charge, which is a line attack AND won't move him from the base. Randy: Death Storm or Salamander. Death Storm has the quirk that it will put him (probably) next to the boss. But he has no problem re-using it and hitting the witch with it again. Just be careful where he is teleported, since if he falls on a spot with lots of minions there is a chance you won't be able to get him out of there before he is killed. Salamander might safer. He also won't need the Pizzas to fuel his attacks, since he has War Cry. Just be sure one of the art-users can heal him often. Noel: Either her AT Delay craft, or her Smart Missiles. Be careful though, for to use her machine pistols you'll need to put her closer to the boss, which can be dangerous. Big Sword: Use the character's namesake and hurl it to the boss. Period. The art-users will be in charge of healing, buffing and replentishing Cp. If the fighter's Str is close or above 2000, then you will be chopping large chunks of the boss' Hp every time you hit her with max Str bonus, even more if you land those crafts on a critical turn. B - Arts. AKA the slow but sure method. Here the roles are reverted, with the fighters doing the healing (via items) and buffing, as well as recharging the art-users' Ep, while they focus on sending line arts at the boss. This method is slower, since aside some exceptions, most art users are comparatively slow, and if the minions and the boss manage to slow them even further, then it will take a lot more time. There really is no sure-fire way to expedite things on this battle, so feel free to combine both methods or even use one of your own. But remember: despite the length of this fight, the witch is the lesser of the three final bosses. So go there and crown her (left 4 death-style). -Boss- After the scenes, you'll be healed back to full (even Cp) and be introduced to the big, bad final boss. -Boss- Meet the Azure Demiurgos, the ubbermonster in turn. For those veteran to the series, he is somewhere in between the Anima Mundi from SnK the 3rd and the Demon from Zero no Kiseki, in terms of difficulty. This is a 2-round fight and he comes with helpers that will be respawned at any given time (it seems to be random). 1st round is the easiest, even if it has a few quirks. For starters, let us see what the boss and friends can do: The helpers (which look like moebius strips) come with a 3-hit Physical Guard and a 3-hit Art-Reflect barrier: 1. Normal attack. Single target. 2. Vanish themselves out from the battle. Don't think for a second this is to your advantage. 3. Recasting their barriers when near death. The Demiurgos: 1. White sphere. Big a-o-e, knock back. 2. Null wave. All-hitter. Knocks back all it hits and cancels all buffs (mother...!) 3. Crimson beam. Line attack. 4. Rewind. Anytime you drain all its Hp, he will heal himself half of his Hp, and heal to full his lil'helpers (WHAT?!). Each rewind costs him a helper, so he can perform it 4 times. This may seem as a never-ending thing...until you realize it is not the big fella on the back of the battlefield you have to hit first. That's right. To win this fight, you need to kill the 4 helpers first before taking matters to the boss. Use a-o-e cafts to quickly dispose of the Physical barrier they have (Raging Spin again, it works wonders) then using S-crafts (yes, you read right) to put them out of the picture asap, for if you take too long, they will vanish from the battlefield and you will have to drain ALL of the boss' Hp to have them back...at full health, with their GD barriers up! This can be also an annoying fight, but it is at length the easiest part of the fight, since our B.U.M. (big, uncoordinated mother f...) has only 60000 Hp, give or take. -Boss- Round 2 comes immediatly after you drain all Hp from the boss with no lil' moebius strips remaining. -Boss- Now, the Demiurgos will get serious. He will also summon four different helpers. They will be 4 blue eggs with only 2 attacks: 1. Their normal attack. Single target, nothing to worry about. 2. When near death, they will cast a 3-hit worth Max Guard (I'm getting tired of that). Also, the Demiurgos will get new attacks in exchange for his ability to rewind the mfing battle: 1. White Sphere. 2. Null wave. It remains. Now the Demiurgos will use it every time all four party members have been buffed, like whenever you cast Zero Field. (sooooo annoying!) >( 3. Crimson beam. 4. Fire wave. All-hitter. Inflicts Burn. 5. Vanish counter. He will use it whenever you use an S-craft anytime before he reaches the last quarter of his Hp. 6. Summon four more eggs every time you kill them all. 7. Power up. Once he hits the last quarter of his Hp, he will absorb the remaining eggs and earn an Str up bonus. Next turn will be his S-craft. 8. Null art lightning. Does no damage, but has a WIDE a-o-e. Does it every time your art fires after his turn. 9. S-craft. As a good, self-respecting final boss, the Demiurgos will throw an All-hitting, long animation blast against you on the following turn after powering up. 10. When hitting the 25000 Hp mark, he will start to store energy for... 11. Heart bomb (no, it is not some cheesy attack, this is serious stuff). The Demiurgos will take out that big, nuclear-bomb looking heart of his, and squeeze all the juice stored inside for one big, spectacularly frustrating GAME OVER, since you'll have to redo the other fights. You f*****g sore looser! >( Things may seem like you're in for the hardest boss on the game, but believe me: this one is acctually the EASIEST of the Kiseki games final bosses. How? This is a three-part fight, each part comes as soon as you chop a certain ammount from his 210000 Hp (W.O.W.): Part 1 - From full Hp to the last quarter The easiest part. All you have to do is kill 3, and ONLY 3 eggs. This so the Demiurgos won't bring them back. Achive this task by assigning roles to your party members: Your 2 fighters will focus on one egg at a time until only one remains, then begin hitting the Demiurgos. One of your 2 art-users will first use an art that takes THE LONGEST to charge (like Shadow Apocriphus, Last Disarter and Avalon Gate), making sure it goes of after the Demiurgos takes its turn. The target doesn't matter. The other one will be in charge of buffing/healing the fighters and whoever has the least ammount of Hp, for the eggs will target that character until they kill him/her. This way, the Demiurgos will focus its turns on canceling the art while your fighters dispose of most of his helpers and then proceed to beat him at leasure with physicals until he reaches the last quarter of his Hp. You can measure this by looking at the light on the background, which will get progressively darker and redder the more damage he takes. If at any time the Demiurgos' turn falls on an Hp Recover turn hijack it with one of the fighters so you can heal and hurt him at the same time, even if he will be vanished from the battle for a few turns. Make sure everyone has a full Cp bar while you can do it at your leasure. Part 2 - From 50000 to 25000 Hp As soon as the Demiurgos hits the 50000Hp mark, he will absorb the last egg and get his Str Up. At this point his S-craft will be coming, so you must prepare for it by doing 2 things. First, use Zero Field once, so he wastes his buffed turn using Null Wave. This way his S-craft won't do than much damage. Also, while this is happening, have one of your art-user use a buffed art, which will connect this time, while the fighters keep hitting him. Once the S-craft has fired, heal and recharge Tio's Cp to full with the fighters while she and the other art-user cast her last set of 2 arts. By this point, the Demiurgos will be close to his last 25000 Hp. Part 3 - The last sluggfest (the hardest part, which depends on how fast you are) As soon as the Demiurgos crosses the 25000 mark, he will start charging for his Heart Bomb to end the battle. If your last two arts hit him, then he will be closest to dying, and you'll need only 2 S-crafts from the fighters to finish this fight. However, I advice to have the other S-crafts ready. The best possible scenario will be one in which the arts hit him and you can begin the S-craft onslaught with Tio, squeezing some attacks from the fighters. This involves a little bit of luck, but if you manage to hurt him enough before begining with the S-crafts, then the Demiurgos is toast. On this part, his helpers, which he will summon again one last time are of no consequence to you. Good luck, the ending is in sight. -Boss- That's that folks! I just wanna say GG and Adios (Wadi style). It will take a while for me to make the Sen no Kiseki walkthrough for two reasons: 1. The game isn't out yet. 2. I lack a PS3 in which to play it. So it'll be a loooooong while until I play the next installment on the truly awesome Zemurian Saga. Until then! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 6. Clear File [CLF] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As with all Kiseki titles, Ao no Kiseki will allow you to carry over stuff from a previous play, also enabling you to access a few things you couldn't otherwise attain. However, in this new installment of the Zemuria saga the people at Falcom thought to actually make things a bit more interesting for the player, and to up the replay value of the game. How's that? Well, if you have taken the time to check the other functions inside the System tab in the party menu, you will have must surely come across the Record tab. Accessing it will have brought up a square grid list in which every square has a "?" mark on top of them. Selecting any such square will make a small message in japanese appear at the bottom of the screen, which is just an explanation of how to get the mentioned achievement. Kinda like a MMO like those that plague Facebook and the iPhone apps. You will also notice upon close examination of the screen that at the upper-right corner of the screen is a Point counter, and that each square, or achievement is worth some points. I must applaude the Falcom guys, for they used an otherwise obnoxious function from a type of game that I hate my guts out to make their fine work more appealing. Thus, if you (for example) killed 8 enemies in one shot, said achievement will light up showing a small portrait, and some points will be contabilized. You might say: yeah, that's neat (insert sarcastic tone), but this ain't an MMO, so what are those ******G points for?! Once you've finished your game and saved your clear file, you will want to load it and steamroll everyting in your path with the ubberpowerful weapons and arts you will have at your disposition... ...until you reallize the options can't be turned on! WHY! I broke my fingers and nearly crushed the PSP in frustration several times while trying to finish this game, and now you tell me I can't use all my hard-earned levels, Zemuria Stone weapons, etc?! Now don't smash the PSP against the wall in frustration just yet. If you weren't in a hurry to begin a 2nd playthrough you will have noticed that a fourth option appeared on the title menu called EXTRA. Inside that menu you will find the several options, of which only the first two can be accessed from the get-go. One is just the Record menu form the in-game party menu. You already know what it is. It is the second monkey which we are concerned. Inside this option you will find several options related to the stuff you wish to carry over in a 2nd playthrough, as well as some other unrelated things like watching the character's profile, viewing the anime intro of the game, and such. You will also notice they all have a price! So that's what those Record Points (RP from now on) are for! Yes. Everything you wish to carry over on a 2nd playthrough will have to be paid for. There are a total of 3500 RP to be gained from the achievements unlocked during the game, and once you spend some, there is no way to undo the action, period. So plane well how you are going to spend those RPs you got during the game, for the only way to get more is to unlock more achievements, and some of them ain't that easy to come by. This is such a smart move from Nihon Falcom (and I don't know if I'm complimenting them or just being sarcastic). °_° Luckyly for everyone, the playthrough-related stuff can be used on any difficulty, not just the one in which you got the achievements, so you may as well be statring the game in Nightmare difficulty with the weapons, armors, accessories, items and quartz you got in Normal or Easy. N.E.A.T.! So without further ado, here is the list of the Records and the Bonus they help unlock, fully translated to English: Record [RCD] To be added EXTRA Bonus [BNS] To be added ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7. Get All Records [GAR] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In here you'll find strategies to get all the Records in the game and satisfy the completitionist in you. IMPORTANT: A good deal of this strategies are mere theory, and therefore they have not been tested. I'm confident (also in theory) of my skills in cracking puzzles and porblem-solving. However, if any reader of this guide happens to find a better way to tackle the Record-getting task, be my guest and send your strategy for achieving the Record(s) of your choosing. You will be credited accordingly. To do so, please specify such in your e-mail's subject by using this message: Ao no Kiseki Record Strategy Now, this should be the format: No. # - XXXXX (Record name) [Tag] (for easy access) Description - xxxxxx (the game's description) In Depth - (self explanatory, the strategy to get this record) Contributor - (for the most part it is ME, if other people contribute, in here it will be listed in order of the best strategy) To be added ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 8. Books [BKS] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Food Recipies [FRC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter 1 Recipies 1. Old Dragon Inn, you get this one with the Cooking notebook. 2. Mansion Imelda in Old Town, check the lonely book on the bookshelf next to the boss' door. 3. 2nd floor of Tully's, check the bookshelf. 4. Check the book lying on the table inside the leftmost room on the 3rd floor of Hotel Millenium. 5. Inside Bar Garante on Back Alley, check the book lying on the leftmost end of the bar where the big chelos are. 6. Crossbell Cathedral, the book is in the hut at the graveyard over the barrels. 7. At the Mainz Inn, check the white poster on the wall where the tables are located. Chapter 2 Recipies 8. At the back of the Department Store, enter from the Back Alley, then go through the door. You'll appear in the area of the information desk, check the poster hanging on the pillar next to the door. 9. In the boat shed of the Fishing association, located 2 screens before you reach Tangram Gate. 10. 3rd floor of Tangram Gate. 11. The Inn at Armorica Village, check the poster in the righmost wall next to the barrels. 12. 2nd floor of Bellguard Gate, enter the first room on the left, then check the book on the desk right next to the door. 13. St. Ursula Hospital, on the 3rd floor of the Dormitory wing, go to the room at the end of the hall and check the "!" mark in the bookshelf. Intermission 3 Recipies 14. Mishram Hotel 2nd floor, lying on a table in the reception area. 15. Resting place at the Amusement Park, the book is on the westernmost bench of this area. Chapter 3 Recipies 16. Gotten during Gourmet Guide subquest [CH3O1] from the noodle stall on Harbor District. 17. From the kitchen of the restaurant in Central Square, check the cartel to the right of the stoves. 18. From a book on the 1st floor of the Library at Admin Plaza, chek the "!" mark on the first bookshelf next to the stairs. Chapter 4 Recipies 19. Check the book in one of the collapsed buildings at Old Town during Day One. 20. City Hall 2nd floor. Enter the leftmost door, then check the poster by the collum on the farthest side of the balcony. 21. Geofront - Sector C in a chest. Chapter 5 Recipies 22. The train platform at Bellguard Gate, climb to the southernmost corner of the screen (according to the game compass), the book is lying on some boxes. 23. In the Junk Shop's basement at Old Town. You have to give the girl at the counter all the 9 Kagemaru items required for the Positive Agnes Vol. 14 book so she will allow you to enter the basement. Once in there, the recipe book is located at the back in one of the shelves. 24. Talk to the shopkeeper of the Old Dragon at East Street when you have all the other 23 recipies. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Character Crafts [CHC] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Quartz [QRZ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Arts [ART] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Equipment [EQP] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Items [ITM] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Minigames [MNG] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ +Pom! You get the Pom! beta-version minigame during optional quest [CH1O8]. Incidentally, this enables you to challenge several peopleo to a match of Crossbell's favorite online game. How to play: This minigame will look familiar to those adicted to iPhone and Android apps. The objective is to match 3 poms of the same color for them to disappear, causing the others to fall. You can create chain reactions this way, which translates into Cp. These you use to either block the opponent's attack, or to fire an S-craft of sorts, which will cause the opponent to be flooded with some lines of poms. You must use this to make the lines of poms reach and cover the small entrance at the top of your opponent's panel to win. Here are the basic controls. - Directional Cross/joystic - move the two falling poms left, right and down. - X button - switch the position of the falling poms. - Triangle button - use the S-craft, then choose with the arrows wether to shield from the opponent's S-craft, or to use your own. - Shinig Pom - not really a control-related thing, but make one of this disappear and you get enough Cp to use the S-craft. This minigame is related to a Record, so it is in your best interest to beat all the challengers if you seek to complete all Records. These are all possible challengers throughout the game, and the earliest possible time to get their Pom! accounts (wonder how they call the Crossbell Facebook?). Chapter 1 Chief Roberts - during the subquest where you get access to the Pom! you have to challenge him automatically. Chapter 2 Michelle - Talk twice to him at the reception of the Bracer's Guild when not inside a quest or story event. Fran - Talk twice to her at the reception of the C.S.P.D. during Day Three. Later, during the Final Chapter, talk to her inside the airship for a remach. Chapter 3 Mariabel - Talk twice to her in her office anytime during the chapter. However, if you don't beat her in this chapter you will not have a chance in further chapters Jonah - Speak with him at the reception of Orkis Tower before going to the wetlands. Later, during the Final Chapter, talk to him inside the airship for a remach. Chapter 4 Abbas - Speak with him after completing [CH4O1] optional quest. Later, during the Final Chapter, talk to him inside the airship for a remach. Chapter 5 Tio - Speak with her inside the airship. Note: I'm not sure, but apparently the forced game during Capter 2 Day Two does not count towards the Record. As an added bonus, you'll get a master quartz when you beat everyone. +The Fishing Challenge After the scene at the Fishing Association building in East Street during chapter one's subquest Suspicious Dwellers Investigation [CH1O6], you will be able to challenge each and every one of the rival fishermen all around the Crossbell Estate. they will be located near some fishing points in the various parts of the estate. To challenge them, you need to fullfil some requirements that they will give you. Don't worry, though, they all invlove fishing. Once you've fullfiled their requirements, you will be able to challenge them. Rules: You will compete on a 3-round fishing bout similar to the one that appear in Sora no Kiseki the 3rd. The objective is to earn more points than the opponent, which is achieved by catching the biggest possible fishes. You will need your own bait for this, so fighting constantly the enemies that drop the different types is a good idea before engaging the matches. This are the opponents, where to find them, and what do they ask in terms of requirements: Location: Old Armorica Road - Rest stop. Requirement: Catch a fish that weights 130 or more. Catch a Titan at Ursula Byroad on any of the beach spots, especially the one where you fight one of the Phantom Beasts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Q and A [QAA] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ TBA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ . Credits [CRD] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ To you who contribute to this guide my most sincere thanks. You make it possible to even play this game. - Online shopping engine from Japan (the local Amazon.jp) - http://g-k-h.com/psp/eiyuzero/ a site recomended by WhiteRatio from GameFaqs who has also made a guide for Zero no Kiseki. In here are all the requirements for quests and such other miscelaneous stuff thaty help make a complete guide...only it is in Japanese. - Google Translator, for its help in translating the site mentioned above - The http://jisho.org site. An online Kanji dictionary. To decode the most obscure symbols used by the script writers. - ExeForce87 from YouTube for letting me use his/her strategy to beat the 1st boss from Chapter 4. You and your friends rock! - Nihon Falcom for making such an enjoyable and yes, awesome game. May you prosper and keep on making more amazing stuff -The Sora no Kiseki Wiki for all the names of the characters and places (every little thing helped) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 14. Contact Info [CIF] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ People wanting to contribute to this guide, email me to: zennvirusguide@yahoo.com Help make this guide better! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 15. Legal Stuff [LEG] ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Copyright 2013 Urizen Andrade You may not plagiarize or copy any of the contents in this guide. I won't oppose to you posting my guide on your site, just email me and ask. If under any circumstances I run into your site which has my guide posted without my prior consent or knowledge, you will be prosecuted. I reserve all rights to modify and change the contents in this guide. Permission to host guide to -GameFaqs -NeoSeeker All game-related terminologies and translations such as character names, locations, skills, etc. are copyrighted by Falcom and XSEED Games. GameFaqs aproved size 0000000001111111111222222222233333333334444444444555555555566666666667777777777 1234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567890123456789