*************************************************************************** _ , _ , ,- - ,, ,- - , _||_ ' _ || _||_ _ || _ ' || \\ \\/\\ < \, || ' || < \, \\/\\ =||= < \, _-_, '\\/\\ || || || || /-|| || || /-|| || || || /-|| ||_. || ;' |, || || || (( || || |, (( || || || || (( || ~ || ||/ _-/ \\ \\ \\ \/\\ \\ _-/ \/\\ \\ \\ \\, \/\\ ,-_- |/ ( -_- _____ __ __) (, / (, ) / / | / Cave of Trials Guide ___/__ |/ Version 1.20 (__ / | Written by AUNAO *************************************************************************** Table of Contents -------------------------------- I. Version History II. Introduction III. Accessing the Cave of Trials / General Information IV. Monster and Treasure Info V. The Golden Toad VI. Boss Strategies VII. New Weapon and Armor Stats VIII. Recognition IV. Contact Information I. Version History v. 1.00 - 12/13/2005 - Initial Information v. 1.10 - 12/14/2005 - Typos fixed v. 1.20 - 12/14/2005 - Information revised/error fix II. Introduction The promise of two new dungeons in the GBA version of Final Fantasy IV had everyone excited, and I was no exception. Since a lot of people have got the game now, I figured a small guide was in order. It's important to remember this is just a "training" dungeon for our older characters to keep up. The best is yet to come. =) III. Accessing the Cave of Trials / General Information The Cave of Trials opens up near the end of the game. Once your party destroys the Babel Giant and sets forth to the moon for the second time to complete the game, you'll get a memo from Namingway explaining how the party swap works. After this event, you can head back down to Earth and swap party members at Mysidia. I guess it's worth noting that all your old characters (Yang, Cid, Edward and the Twins) will be around the same level as your characters, so you won't have to take the time to level them. ^^ Anyway, after heading to Mysidia, you'll learn of a dark cloud overhead of Mt. Ordeals. The elder asks you to check it out. Once you get there, a bolt of lightning will open up a door to the Cave of Trials on the first screen of Mt. Ordeals. The Cave of Trials is eight floors deep, and a pretty straight forward dungeon crawl. There are a few twists, however. Firstly, you CANNOT use Warp/Teleport/Emergency Exit to get out. There's basic dungeon fare treasure lying around. The good stuff is all hidden through secret passages in the walls. It's nothing new, so you shouldn't have too much trouble dealing with it. On the eight floor, there is a save point and an exit (-_-), as well as five weapons floating around, a la the Lunar Subterrain. Each of the five weapons corresponds with one of the now playable party members, and are protected by a fairly challenging boss. You'll need that character in your party to activate the battle. IV. Monster and Treasure Info Considering when you get to the Cave of Trials, you should have no problem dealing with the random encounters. There's only a single new monster, the Golden Toad, and he's sort of a novelty monster anyway. Expect foes from the Slyph Cave, passage to the Land of Summoned Monsters, and the Tower of Babel. You'll probably end up running from most encounters anyway, simply because the EXP to time ratio isn't worth it. Treasure info, sorted by floor: B1F - X-Potion, Red Jacket B2F - Coronet, Phoenix Down, Remedy B3F - Funny Mask, Remedy, Cat Hood B4F - Courageous Suit, Red Cap, Cottage, Siren B5F - Remedy, Lord's Robe, Sage's Robe, Siren B6F - Grand Armor, Dry Ether, Grand Helm B7F - Megalixir, Megalixir V. The Golden Toad I thought this little guy was kind of neat, so I gave him his own little section. Someone compared him to Cactrot, and it seems to be a fair comparison. The Golden Toad is a fairly rare encounter, found more often around the B6F of the Cave of Trials. He has 7777 HP and a very set battle pattern. Encountering him is almost always a rear battle, so he'll move right off the bat. He casts Toad almost immediately, on either one or all of your party members, and then retreats. It's difficult to time it right and defeat him before he runs, but the spoils can be VERY worth it. Golden Toad's possible item drops: Golden Hourglass Golden Apple Megalixir VI. Boss Strategies *************************************************************************** Storm Dragon - Protects Yang's Weapon 40,000 HP. One of the "middle road" bosses. He won't be much of a challenge, provided you use a balanced party. Just for the record, my party for all bosses was Cecil, Rydia, Rosa, Edge and whoever was needed for their weapon. Storm Dragon only has two different attacks. One is simply a regular attack, which can deal about 700 - 1,000 damage. His second is a special called Tornado, which did enough to KO both Rydia and Rosa. It was around 1,700. He only casted it once throughout the battle, so don't worry too much about it. Should be a snap. Several people have informed me Storm Dragon can also use Maelstrom, an attack you might remember from your good buddy Behemoth. Maelstrom puts your entire party into critical, sort of like Tornado, only it hits everyone. *************************************************************************** Master Flan - Palom's Weapon 35,000 HP. The second most difficult boss of the Cave of Trials, and easily the most annoying. He starts off with four allies - 2 Black Flans and 2 White Mousses. You'll need to kill off at least two or three jellies to attack Master Flan directly (if someone can confirm the number it would be helpful). He can respawn the jellies after you kill them all. His main pattern of attack is to cast Reflect on himself, and then bounce off Thundagas, Flares, and Drains at you. Spells that hit all enemies work great here. Specifically, Palom's Quake and Rydia's Titan (She didn't have Quake when I fought this battle, so you might not either). Thankfully, because of Master Flan's low HP, this shouldn't take you too long. *************************************************************************** T-Rex - Porom's Weapon 60,000 HP. Despite having the most HP, T-Rex is a joke. His only attacks are a fairly powerful normal attack that does around 1,000, and Earthquake. Cast Float beforehand, and it won't touch you. He has no way to dispel your float status. I'd recommend using both Porom and Rosa in this battle. Once you have Float cast, if you keep all your characters Blinked, which will be very quickly with Rosa, Porom, and Edge, T-Rex won't be able to damage you at all. *************************************************************************** Death Mech - Cid's Weapon 50,000 HP. His normal attack is a bit weaker than T-Rex. Expect to see it often. He has two special attacks, a variant of Laser that could kill one of my party members in one hit, and Globe 99, which always KOs one character. I only saw both Laser and Globe 99 once, though. Abuse Blink and you should win this battle easily. *************************************************************************** Gigas Worm - Edward's Weapon 55,000 HP. I had a hell of a hard time beating this guy. He's probably the hardest. He has no special moves, but his normal attack hits for about 1,500. Whenever you use magic or physical attacks on him, he counterattacks, kind of like a much more annoying Behemoth. I had to use Phoenix Downs constantly, but I won after a long battle. Heal immediately and use Blink on your lower HP characters. *************************************************************************** VII. New Weapon and Armor Stats WEAPONS: *************************************************************************** Hand of the Gods (Yang) Raises Strength, Agility, and Stamina by 15. *************************************************************************** Thor's Hammer (Cid) Raises Strength by 15. When used as an item in battle, casts Blitz. *************************************************************************** Triton's Dagger (Palom) Raises Intellect. by 15. When used as an item in battle, casts Flood. *************************************************************************** Seraphim's Mace (Porom) Raises Spirit by 15. When used as an item in battle, casts Esuna. *************************************************************************** Apollo's Harp (Edward) Strength +15, Agility +15, Spirit +15. *************************************************************************** ARMOR: *************************************************************************** Sage's Robe (Palom) Prevents Silence, Agility +10, Intellect +10 *************************************************************************** Coronet (Palom) Prevents Toad, Mini, Pig, Intellect +10 *************************************************************************** Cat Hood (Porom) Resists Ice, Agility +5 *************************************************************************** Lord's Robe (Porom) Resists Fire/Ice/Lightning, Stamina +10, Spirit +10 *************************************************************************** Funny Mask (Yang) Prevents Paralysis, Strength +5 *************************************************************************** Courageous Suit (Yang) Prevents Curse, Strenth +10, Agility +10, Stamina +10 *************************************************************************** Grand Helm (Cid) Resists Lightning, Agility +5, Spirit +5 *************************************************************************** Grand Armor (Cid) Resists Lightning, Stamina +15, Spirit +15 *************************************************************************** Red Jacket (Edward) Resist Fire, Strength +15, Agility +15 *************************************************************************** Red Cap (Edward) Resist Fire, Stamina +10 *************************************************************************** VIII. Recognition - El Sabotender, a wonderful pal - obishawn, for item locations~ - The moonlight knight - SquareEnix, I guess... for still caring and all. ;) - Grilate, catching my careless mistakes - Josh E. <3 IX. Contact Information If you find any errors, or have something to say, let me know at: AUNAOyo@gmail.com