SSSSSSS TTTTTT A RRRRRR OOO CCCCC EEEEEE A N N SS TT A R R OO OO CC E A NN N SS TT A A R R OO OO C E A A N N N SS TT AAAAA RRRRR OO OO C EEEEEE AAAAA N NN N SS TT AA AA R R OO OO C E AA AA N N N SS TT AA AA R R OO OO CC E AA AA N N N SSSSSSS TT AA AA R R OOO CCCCC EEEEEE AA AA N NN FFFF II RRRR SSSS TTTT DDD EEEE PPPP AA RRRR TTTT U U RRRR EEEE F II R R S TT D D E P P A A R R TT U U R R E FFF II RRR SS TT D D EEE PPP A A RRR TT U U RRR EEE F II R R S TT D D E P AAAA R R TT U U R R E F II R R SSSS TT DDD EEEE P A A R R TT UU R R EEEE FAQ/Walkthrough for Star Ocean: First Departure for Playstation Portable Region: NTSC/PAL =========================================================================== FAQ/Walkthrough made by Damage_dealer (Igor Sheludko) E-mail: damagedealer@ukr.net Version: Final This entire document is (C) 2008 Igor Sheludko. All trademarks are property of their respective owners. No section of this guide can be used without my permission. This includes, but is not limited to posting on your website, making links to my guide, including parts of my guide in your own, or making reference to any material contained within. Only GameFAQs has permission to post this guide. =========================================================================== TABLE OF CONTENTS =========================================================================== I. BEGINNING & BASICS IA. STORY INTRODUCTION IB. MAIN CHARACTERS IC. PRIVATE ACTIONS ID. BATTLE SYSTEM BASICS IE. CONTROLS II. WALKTHROUGH III. SIDE-QUESTS AND SECRETS IIIA. SIDE-QUESTS IIIB. CAVE OF THE SEVEN STARS IIIC. SECRETS IV. SHOP LIST V. SKILL SYSTEM, SPECIALTIES AND ITEM CREATION VI. SPECIAL ARTS/SYMBOLOGY VII. RECRUITMENT GUIDE VIII. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS IX. VERSION HISTORY X. CREDITS XI. CONTACT INFO Use Ctrl+F feature for easier navigation. =========================================================================== I. BEGINNING & BASICS =========================================================================== In 1996, Enix published a game for the Super Famicom in Japan called Star Ocean. This game held the honor of being one of the largest SFC games (weighing in at 48 megabytes) and incorporated the best of what the world of role-playing games had to offer, plus a few new elements. In the year 2007 Square Enix of Japan decided to remake and release this game for Playstation Portable handheld console under the title Star Ocean: First Departure. In the year 2008, this game even made it to the US, fully translated and localized (the original SO was Japan-only). =========================================================================== IA. STORY INTRODUCTION =========================================================================== Space Date 346 In the sleepy town of Kratus on planet Roak, Defense Force members Roddick, Millie and Dorne are yet on another dull patrol. Nothing ever seems to happen in their town, and while they are heroes, they are young and long for adventure. Meanwhile, a Terran federation ship is en route to Roak. Commanded by captain Ronyx J. Kenny, their job is to unravel a mystery and stop an interstellar war. Two different worlds, two different groups of people. But soon they will find themselves fighting side-by-side to prevent an epic disaster. =========================================================================== IB. MAIN CHARACTERS =========================================================================== Roddick Farrence Age: 19 Height: 174 cm Weight: 68 kg Race: Fellpool (tailed type) Origin: Kratus, the Kingdom of Muah Weapon: Sword A young fellpool (a race of people with tails) living on planet Roak, he is part of the town Defense Force, and his day job is patrolling the town. He'sthe passionate type, but sometimes looks kind of mournful and lost in thought. Favorite food: Twice cooked pork Millie Chliette Age: 18 Height: 153 cm Weight: 46 kg Race: Fellpool (tailed type) Origin: Kratus, the Kingdom of Muah Weapon: Rod She's a cheerful and dynamic girl who backs up Roddick and Dornee using the healing symbology magic she learned from her father. Despite her age, she's a powerful healer. Favorite food: Fruit parfait Dorne Murtough Age: 19 Height: 181 cm Weight: 75 kg Race: Fellpool (tailed type) Origin: Kratus, the Kingdom of Muah Weapon: Sword A close friend of Roddick and Millie since childhood. He also belongs to the Defense Force. He's a big-hearted guy with a core of steel and brings the group together. Favorite food: Steak Ronyx J. Kenny Age: 38 Height: 179 cm Weight: 64 kg Race: Human Origin: Earth Weapon: Bow and Arrows The captain in charge of a Terran Alliance reconnaissance mission to planet Roak, he's logical and cool-headed, but also a kind-hearted and daring side to him. He enjoys the full trust of his subordinates. Favorite food: Boiled Mushrooms Ilia Silvestri Age: 23 Height: 171 cm Weight: 48 kg Race: Human Origin: Earth Weapon: Fists Ronyx's second-in-command, she's a brilliant woman with a Ph.D. and is a master of unarmed combat, but also remarkably cheerful for a soldier. She loves her alcohol. Favorite food: Crazy Cow Cyuss Warren Age: 20 Height: 190 cm Weight: 90 kg Race: Highlander Origin: Astralian continent Weapon: Sword Cyuss is a son of the leader of the Astral Army. He lost his mother whom he really loved, which could explain his lack of self- confidence. When his father talked about handing down his power to Cyuss, he hated the idea and left to improve his swordsman ship. Cyuss is strong and always likes to show it, but he lacks self confidence which decreases his power. He joins the party to build up his self-confidence. Likes drinking a lot. Favorite food: Tropical Melody Ioshua Jerand Age: 20 Height: 172 cm Weight: 20 kg Race: Featherfolk Origin: Silvalant continent Weapon: Rod Ioshua is part of the Featherfolk race, the winged people that live in the mountains. His parents were killed at a young age and his sister was abducted. He managed to survive and a human cared for him until he became strong enough to get revenge. He joins the party to find his lost sister. He hates any kind of violence. Favorite Food: Escargot Ashlay Berndbelt Age: 50-60 Height: ????? Weight: ????? Race: Highlander Origin: Astralian continent Weapon: Sword Ashlay is a old war hero. He used to be the best fighter in the Astral Army. He thinks it is an art to defeat enemies, not just a slaying. When he sees that Roddick uses a familiar swordfighting, only a bit varied, he sees great potential in him, so he wants to see how he turns out. He can't use shields since his left arm was damaged in battle. Favorite food: Sensou Jelly Phia Melle Age: 18-23 Height: ????? Weight: ????? Race: Highlander Origin: Astralian continent Weapon: Dagger Phia is one of the Astral kingdom's knights, and is very loyal to her leader, Warren (Cyuss' father). Also she is a childhood friend of Cyuss, and also is very masculine. She will fight for her friends, whatever it takes. She is persistent and always gets what she wants. Favorite food: Baked Turban Shell Mavelle Froesson Age: 19-23 Height: ????? Weight: ????? Race: Human Origin: ????? Weapon: Orb Mysterious character. She sold her body to an ancient race which once lived on Roak, because she wanted to avenge her family's death. Something about Ioshua bothers her and makes her think something is wrong with him... Favorite food: Wine Sauce T'Nique Arcana Age: 15-16 Height: ????? Weight: ????? Race: Lycanthrope Origin: ????? Weapon: Spear Pure fighter, who spends all his time in the Tatroi Arena, trying to make a name for himself. He is a short boy, but being a "Lycanthrope", he can turn into a powerful wolf. He is very calm and after being beaten by Roddick, he wants to join him to find out how powerful Roddick can get. Favorite food: Rice balls Pericci Age: ????? Height: ????? Weight: ????? Race: Lesser Fellpool Origin: Muah continent Weapon: Fists PERICCI isn't even her real name. A lesser fellpool, last of her kind. She is a cat-like human and has cat-like abilities. She fell prisoner to the Velkhents and has spent a good deal of her life in a prison dungeon. She lacks social skills but they get better as she travels with Roddick. Likes Roddick very much. Favorite Food: Fine Tuna Sashimi =========================================================================== IC. PRIVATE ACTIONS =========================================================================== Private Actions feature is a trademark of tri-Ace's Star Ocean series. Whenever you enter a new town, the PA marker appears in the top right corner of the screen. You need to press the square button on your PSP to start the PA. Basically, PA's are scenes which let you know your characters more, discover some of their secrets, etc. Besides, sometimes you can get very rare and useful items from PA's. For example, when you've initiated a PA, your party splits up for a while. Depending on where you are in the story, the PA may be very different. Sometimes your characters split up and you can see the scenes between some of them I advice you to try to explore this feature with differnt setups of characters. The system of PA's is quite complex, so obviously more than one playthrough is needed to trigger them all. Note that you can complete the game without doing a single PA, but it will be your mistake, as you'll miss out on so many things. I advice to do as much PA's as you can. However, I will not include the contents of the PA's in this FAQ, as they may contain huge spoilers. I will only mark some plot points where they can be triggered. In the near future I am going to make a Private Action FAQ of this game. (About Approval Rating) Each character in the game has his/her own personal feelings and thoughts about the other party members. This is called "Approval Rating" (AR). It may change from positive to negative and vice-versa. These changes affect various factors during the whole game and can have various incomes. The AR is not visible to you during the game play, and it is difficult to evaluate. It may take you more than one playtrough to try different variants and see the results. ========================================================================== ID. BATTLE SYSTEM BASICS ========================================================================== SO:FD features a real-time combat system which will be familiar to SO2 veterans. In battle, player can individually control any character in the party. You can move characters around with the control pad, and perform different types of attacks. Basic attacks are easy to perform, and do damage with your equipped weapon. Multiple hits can result in a combo. Basic attacks get the job done, but they are not the strongest techniques which you can get. There are actually more advanced moves and skills out there to master. Another thing to take note of is a "Special Arts" feature. Special Arts are powerful melee attacks that require MP to use. The more the certain Special Art is used, the more powerful it becomes. Casting spells is done by symbologists and, like Special Art attacks, these use up MP. However, spell-casting is timed, and can be easily interrupted, so if you're controlling a magic user, be careful with close enemies. A key to winning is having an organised group of characters with properly set tactics. Strategy commands can be pre-set before any battle starts, and also changed in the middle of the battle. All characters in the party fight according to the set strategy. Keep in mind that there will be many different situations in the game which will require a whole different strategy plan to use. Experimenting is the way to go. ========================================================================== IE. CONTROLS ========================================================================== _____________________________________________________________ ,' L ,' `. R `. /-----' .-----------------------------------------. `-----\ / | | \ / __ | | .-. \ / | | | | (/_\) \ | __ \/ __ | | .-. `-' .-. | | |__ > < __| | | ([ ]) ( O ) | | /\ | | `-' .-. `-' | | |__| | | ( X ) | | | | `-' | | .--. | | | \ ( ) | | / \ `--' '-----------------------------------------' / \-----. [Home] [Select] [Start] ,-----' `.____`.___________________________________________________,'____, L Button - Rotate Camera (while on World Map) R Button - Rotate Camera (while on World Map) D-pad - Move Thumbstick - Move Select - N/A Start - Switch Map (while on World Map) X Button - Confirm (Menu)/Hit (Battle) O Button - Back (Menu)/Change member (Battle) Square Button - Private Action (while on World Map) Triangle Button - Menu/Battle Menu ========================================================================== II. WALKTHROUGH ========================================================================== ========================================================================== SPOILER WARNING This walkthrough of Star Ocean: FD may contains some spoilers which can ruin the game experience for you. I will try to cut their number to minimum, although I'm not the one to blame if you see something you don't want to see (yet). I will also mark the PRIVATE ACTION sections, because they consist mainly of spoilers. ========================================================================== ========================================================================== Kratus Recommended level: 1 Items: Resurrection Elixir, Flare Bomb, Blackberries, Blueberries, Talisman Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== OK, here we go. You start your game in the Defense Force HQ. When you finally gain control of you character after the cutscene, open the chest with BLACKBERRIES and exit the house. I'm saying this right away - always check every place for chests and hidden items.. Pick up the RESURRECTION ELIXIR and FLARE BOMB to the right of where you came from. Navigate the town to get the hold of controls in this game. Near the Weapon Shop there is a chest with a TALISMAN. Next, go to the house where Roddick lives (north of Weapon Shop) and rest there. Get back to the HQ and visit Millie's house to pick up BLUEBERRIES. When you will approach the HQ you'll see bandits invading the town. Get ready for your first fight. Run to the bandits walking in town to initiate a fight. Although the fight is short, you can get familiar with the battle system now. You will gain 60 Fol, 2 EXP and 2 Blueberries. Now head to the next screen to fight another bunch of bandits. After the scene, the bandit leader, Boss Baird appears. Kick his ass and receive 190 FOL, 8 EXP, BLUEBERRIES, BLACKBERRIES and a FANFIC X. The captain will thank you and give you BLUEBERRIES x 5 and a Twisted Pork Chop. Next morning you'll wake up to go patrolling the village again. You can now exit Kratus via the south exit to level up, and get more familiar with the battle system. ========================================================================== Muah Continent Recommended level: 5-7 Items: N/A Enemies: Bandit, Horned Wolf ========================================================================== You should start leveling up now. Level up to at least level 5 or to level 7 (to learn Roddick's Firestorm Blade). That's all you need for now. Save your game afterwards. Return to Kratus. ========================================================================== Kratus Recommended level: 5-7 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== When you are ready, go north to the HQ to find Millie. Enter the house. The captain will give you a letter from the mayor of Coule. It will say there's a disease spreading in the town of Coule. They suggest getting the herbs to cure it on Mt. Metorx. Eventually, after the scenes, you'll have to go to Mt. Metorx. For now exit via south entrance. ========================================================================== Muah Continent Recommended level: 7-8 Items: N/A Enemies: Bandit, Horned Wolf ========================================================================== Go north from Kratus, past the Metorx Bridge to finally reach Coule. ========================================================================== Coule Recommended level: 7-8 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== When you enter Coule, you'll see some stone figures. Head north and up the stairs, then you will see Millie. Follow her into a house. After the scene travel back to Kratus, and after a scene there, you'll have to go to Mt. Metorx. Exit via north entrance. Mt. Metorx is situated north from Coule. ========================================================================== Coule Recommended level: 7-8 Items: Necklace, Blueberries, 200 Fol Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== While going through Coule again, be sure to collect the items here. There is a NECKLACE in the rightmost house, BLUEBERRIES near the house where Millie's father is and 200 FOL inside that house. ========================================================================== Mt. Metorx Recommended level: 7-8 Items: N/A Enemies: Fellworm ========================================================================== After you enter, there will be a forced fight with a couple of Fellworms. Defeat them and move on. This is also a good place to level up. Keep heading further until another bunch of Fellworms attacks. Fight them off and watch the cutscene where Dorne collapses. Keep on moving to the top. You will reach a cliff the the herb on it. The cutscene will take place and you'll be warped the hell out of here. ========================================================================== Calnus Recommended level: 7-8 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== Okay, now you're onboard Calnus. From where you start, save your game at a savepoint and go through the Connection to reach the Elevator Pod. You can travel between the Calnus' floors now. First travel to the first floor, than to second, and when you'll come back to the Elevator Pod, Fellworms will appear. Defeat them and watch the scene that takes you to the sick bay and then back to planet Roak, to Kratus village. The party heads back on the Calnus. After a very long cutscene the party travels through the Time Gate. ========================================================================== Kraat Recommended level: 7-8 Items: Blueberries, 420 Fol, Resurrection Elixir Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== You will find yourself in the Kraat village. It's only Roddick and Ilia, and moreover you have to find some appropriate clothes for her. You can pick between one of these two options: 1. I'll go look around. 2. Don't worry about it. Choose the first option, so your AR with Iria will go up. Go right and open a chest for BLUEBERRIES. Go into the Kraal General Store. Come back outside and go north into the Sleeping Apple Inn. Open a chest for 420 Fol. From there, cross the street and enter the house to find a RESURRECTION ELIXIR. Now you can either buy clothes for Ilia in the Kraat General Store (AR with Ilia up), or steal them from the old lady (AR with Ilia down) or ask old lady to give them to you (AR stays the same). After the scene -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION Okay, this is you first private action between Roddick and Ilia. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now keep on moving along the track to the town of hot. ========================================================================== Haute Recommended level: 10-11 Items: Sweet Syrup, Resurrection Elixir Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== I guess you've already understood how this town will look in the future. Well, anyway, after the little scene, run left, open the chest with SWEET SYRUP on your way and head north. There's an inn The Hot Potato where you can rest for 60 Fol. Run left and talk to the guy on the bridge. There will be two options: 1. North from here 2. South from here Pick the first one. Now go right to Badam's Items to see a scene. After it go to the left corner of the shop to buy some skills. The ones that are available right now are all at level 1. Buy all of them if you have enough money. Then go talk to Badam. Pick the "I wanna talk" option. After the scene go south, to the rightmost merchant. Talk to him and agree to buy the sword for 20 Fol. After the scene go to Badam, and welcome the new party member - Cyuss Warren. Badam will also give you a PERMIT key item to enter Portmith. I also advice you to go to the Skill Guild to buy all of the skills there. They're cheap, so it'll cost you 1500 Fol at most. Now you need to go to Mt. Metorx (again). Go to the northeasternmost house to find a chest with a RESURRECTION ELIXIR. Exit Haute via north entrance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION A PA between Ilia and Roddick. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================== Mt. Metorx Recommended level: 11-12 Items: Rose Hip Enemies: Fellworm, Slime, Horned Wolf, Killer Bee, Little Bunny ========================================================================== There's a really straightforward path, so I think it's needless to tell you the directions. Just follow the path, and I also advice you to level up here a bit, cause Killer Bees + Horned Wolves give you decent EXP. There is a water "well" near the top of the mountain, where you can restore your HP and MP to full. After the scene, when you reach the top, look for a glimpse on that scren to find a Rose Hip. After that, just descend to the other exit leading to Portmith area. ========================================================================== Muah Continent Recommended level: 12-13 Items: N/A Enemies: Horned Wolf, Bandit, Bushwacker, Little Bunny ========================================================================== Just level up here a bit more, maybe to level 13. The enemies are quite easy to kill here. You should clearly see Portmith from here, so enter the town. ========================================================================== Portmith Recommended level: 13-14 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== First things first, go to Papa's Shop in the right side of the town, and get a bunny statue for Badam. You can also buy some good equioment here. Don't forget to visit the Skill Guild again to buy a Sense 2 skill complect. Exit Portmith and backtrack to Haute. When you return the statue to Badam, he'll reward you with 600 Fol. After the scene, Cyuss will try to leave the party. You can pick the first option to ask him to stay and the third option to let him go. It's your choice, anyway. Go to Portmith again through Mt. Metorx. Note that from Mt. Metorx you can enter the Abandoned Mine from now on (the entrance to it is on the first screen from the Haute side where the big pile of rocks is; you'll have to go through a stone wall to reach the mine), but I do not recommend it before you reach AT LEAST level 30. The fiends are very powerful there, you know. When you arrive to Portmith again, go northwest and then west to reach the dock. Talk to the sailor there, and he'll tell you that he won't take you to Astral continent because of the Velkhents activity. Choose "Let's take 'em out!"and make your way to Velkhent Cave. Just approach the ship to the left of the sailor and press X. ========================================================================== Pirates' Hideout Recommended level: 13-14 Items: Antidote, Blueberries, Resurrection Elixir, Blackberries, Necklace, Resurrection Elixir, Blueberries, Sweet Syrup, Sacrificial Doll, Resurrection Elixir, Resurrection Elixir, Magic Canvas, Sweet Syrup, Ruby, Rainbow Diamond Enemies: Robber Axman, Kobold, Horned Wolf, Bandit, Bushwhacker ========================================================================== When you reach the dock, you'll see a cave. Enter it. F1 Head right at the intersection, and follow the path to the chest with the ANTIDOTE, then navigate through the curve to the northeastern exit, and in the next screen pick up the BLUEBERRIES and RESURRECTION ELIXIR from the chests. Go back to the intersection. Now go left, then slide left to the next screen and discover the gas things. Go back, and now slide north to reach the stairs. Go down. B1 Run south, then right to get some BLACKBERRIES. Now go back, and this time go down. At his screen run left, open the chest to find a NECKLACE and pull the switch. Go back one screen and run through the newly-opened door. Descend the stairs. B2 Save your game at a savepoint. Go up and then slide in the north door. Get ready for the mini-boss. At level 17 this boss is quite easy, so just pound him and the monsters accompaning him away. You'll get a FLINT after the battle. Now slide to the right and get the RESURRECTION ELIXIR from the chest. Now head back to the beginning of B1, approach the gas thingies, equip the Flint, and press X. Walk into the opened hole in the wall. First head right and press X on the gas thingies. Go back and head southwest, get a chest containing BLUEBERRIES along the way and turn left. Run through the blue cloud and open the chests for a SWEET SYRUP and a SACRIFICIAL DOLL. Now run south and then left to B2 (you can also go to F1 to blow up the gas there to find a RESURRECTION ELIXIR). B2 Follow the path to B3. B3 Run south to the next screen. Blow up the gas here and get the chest with a SWEET SYRUP. Run back and go west. Grab the RESURRECTION ELIXIR along the way and continue to the next screen. Here go south and right for a MAGIC CANVAS. Now go left, save your game and enter the door. ==================== BOSS: Velkhent Chief ==================== Hit Points: 5000 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Easy Well, 5000 HP is no joke, but if your characters are at level 17-18, there is absolutely nothing to worry about. The Velkhent Chief is accompanied by a stupid Velkhent, so the "little" guy should be you first concern. The Chief doesn't have some big attacks, all that he does is easily dodgeable, so just hack away and use some Blueberries if you need. Try using Cyuss' Double Slash and Ilia's Meteor Palm to quickly pummel him. Roddick's Air Slash should work fine too. Anyway, this is going to be a short fight. After dealing with the boss, run to the left, open the cells to find RUBY and RAINBOW DIAMOND, and finally open the second cell from the left for a scene. ========================================================================== Portmith Recommended level: 17-18 Items: Ocarina Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== PICK UP THE OCARINA THAT THE GIRL DROPPED!! It's a very important item, so save it for later. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION A private action between Cyuss and Roddick at the bar. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go to the dock and talk to the sailor and travel to Autanim. ========================================================================== Autanim Recommended level: 17-18 Items: Amulet of Antivenin Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== When you arrive, the party decides to head for Tatroi right away, so you should memorize the place where you'll need to go next. But for now, rest at the inn, buy some new skill-sets and the most important thing - go to the Weapon shop and buy yourself new equipment. Claymore is a must, if you still have Cyuss. After you've done with shopping in the Weapon shop, go behind it and enter the house there. Open the chest with the AMULET OF ANTIVENIN inside. If you go near the Grocery store, you can see a girl not far away from it. Talk to her, and she'll tell you about the prize in the Tatroi Arena. Remember that well. Also, Phia will join you here for some time, if you don't have Cyuss. Now you can just wander around this town or head straight to Tatroi. In any case, exit Autanim via the south entrance from the plaza. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================== Astralian Continent Recommended level: 17-18 Items: N/A Enemies: Robber Axman, Sandworm, Assassin Bug ========================================================================== From Autanim, head along the path on the ground to reach Tatroi. I also advice you to level up probably 2 or 3 levels here. Enter Tatroi (if you have Phia, she will now leave). ========================================================================== Tatroi Recommended level: 20-21 Items: Resurrection Elixir, Aquaberries, Spectacles Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== If you have Phia, she will now leave. When you enter, go to the paltform in the center of the screen and take the RESURRECTION ELIXIR there. Then head into the house north of the platform and open the chest for some AQUABERRIES. To the left of this house is an inn where you can rest. While on this screen, go to the Skill Guild and buy the new LV2 skill sets there. You can also play a crappy game which costs you 600 Fol, but I won't advice you to do it (everything valuable you can get from it is 100 SP). Go north from the first screen, then west, enter the house to open the chest with SPECTACLES. Now go back and this time go east. There are two shops on the upper level and a Food shop on the lower. The lower level also leads to the dock, from where you can travel to Astral City. There's one more thing left to do - check out the Tatroi's trademark, the famous Battle Arena. More about it in the SIDE-QUESTS AND SECRETS section. You can recruit Ashlay here, if you didn't let Cyuss join you in Haute. Ashlay is in the west corner of the arena. Talk to him, then fight a few battles at the arena. After that go to the dock, talk to Ashlay to get him to join. Now you can go to Astral city through Astral Caves (exit Tatroi via the west entrance), or you can get there by boat. The choice is yours. Note that if you've got Ashlay, you'll automatically get to Astral City. Even if you don't have him, you should try to go through the Cave to get some levels and items. ========================================================================== Astral Caves Recommended level: 21-22 Items: Green Beryl, ?Item, Sinclair, 1200 Fol, Iron, Flare Bomb, Sapphire, Crystal, Silver, Sapphire, Amulet of Antivenin, Sacrificial Doll, ?Weapon, Necklace, Gladius, Crystal Enemies: Ooze, Mandrake, Cutie Bunny, Armored Knight, Cleric ========================================================================== Save right away. You can't open that door near the save, so run north. Watch for the sparkling light at the crystals and obtain GREEN BERYL. Go left for a ?ITEM. Go back and go north. Cross the bridge, grab the cool SINCLAIR along the way and pull the switch. Go into NW door to find 1200 FOL and IRON. Go back and pull the switch again. Go into NE door and get a FLARE BOMB. Back to the switch again, pull it one last time and run into the northern door. Grab SAPPHIRE and CRYSTAL along the way. Keep going north. You'll reach a savepoint and a gold healing statue. Save and heal. There's no point in going east now, so ascend the stairs. (Note that you need a Pickaxe equipped to get items like Sapphire, Iron, Silver, etc.) ========================================================================== Astral City Recommended Level: 22-23 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== A scene comes when you arrive into the Astral City, and after it I advice you to explore a town a bit before going to the inn to rest. Visit the shops here, upgrade your equipment, buy some skill sets, if you haven't done so in Tatroi. Your next actions will depend on the characters you have. If it's Cyuss, go to the inn and rest, if you have Ashlay go to Lias' mansion and rest there. If you don't have Cyuss or Ashlay, you'll have to save Phia from jail first to progress with the story. She'll join in the Astral Caves. Well, anyway after the scene the party arrives in the Astral Caves once again. ========================================================================== Astral Caves Recommended level: 23-24 Items: Green Beryl, ?Item, Sinclair, 1200 Fol, Iron, Flare Bomb, Sapphire, Crystal, Silver, Sapphire, Amulet of Antivenin, Sacrificial Doll, ?Weapon, Necklace, Gladius, Crystal Enemies: Ooze, Mandrake, Cutie Bunny, Armored Knight, Cleric ========================================================================== Run east from the gold statue. Continue further, get SILVER from the crystals there and run south (SAPPHIRE), then east to the screen where you will find AMULET OF ANTIVENIN, SACRIFICIAL DOLL and ?WEAPON. Go back and turn west at the fork. Now turn east at the next one to gind a chest with a NECKLACE. Run back and south now. You'll be under the bridge now, so follow the way down. You'll come into an intersection. First go NW to find GLADIUS for Phia. Move back and go NE for a CRYSTAL. Now finally go south to come out of the door you couldn't open. Save at the savepoint and run in the direction of Tatroi. ================ BOSS: Darthwidow ================ Hit Points: 10000 Magic Points: 40 Difficulty: Easy Kill the Stropers right away, so they won't bother you and go for the boss itself. She's very slow, so your characters might obliterate her within seconds. Just use some Special Arts and the boss will go down in no time. ========================================================================== Astral City Recommended Level: 22-23 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== A scene will occur, and it will depend on the character you have now. If you have Cyuss, a soldier will come to thank you for your help and give you a reward. He'll also ask you to go to Purgatorium. Choose to go, because you won't be able to get a secret character otherwise (and that will lead to losing another secret character). If you have Ashlay, he'll leave you, so you need to go to Lias and this time Phia will give you the reward. She will also ask you to go to the Purgatorium. Choose to go, because you won't be able to get a secret character otherwise (and that will lead to losing another secret character). If you only have Roddick and Ilia, Phia will ask to join you and go to the Purgatorium. If you decline it, you won't be able to get a secret character otherwise(and that will lead to losing another secret character). Phia will join you now. If you don't want to go to Purgatorium, just skip this section and continue reading from TROPP section. By the way, the rewards you get are LUNAR TALISMAN, CINDERELLA GLASS and 200 SP. To get to Purgatorium, return to Tatroi, exit the town via south entrance, and on the world map go left from Tatroi. ========================================================================== Astralian Continent Recommended level: 24-25 Items: N/A Enemies: Robber Axman, Sandworm, Assassin Bug, Ooze ========================================================================== Okay head left from Tatroi, along the path between the mountains and you should come to a fork. Go east at the fork and enter some kind of a "waste land" territory. You should see a hole in the mountain. Enter it. These are the Highland Caves. There's only one straightforward way, so follow it to the end and you'll come out in the other place on the world map that looks like a desert. You should now clearly see the temple not far away. That's the Purgatorium. ========================================================================== Purgatorium Recommended level: 25-26 Items: ?Herb, Froghead, Ring of Resistance, Resurrection Elixir, ?Mineral Enemies: Stroper, Assassin Bug ========================================================================== As you enter, go a few screens north and you should come into the large room with two doors - NW and NE. The NW one is locked so go NE, then NE again and in the next room pull the switch. Come back to the large room and enter the NW door now. Touch the pedestals and receive 100 SP. There's also a ?HERB in the western room from the large room. Now exit this place. While on world map, move along the mountain edge east until you find a secret entrance. After the scene Ioshua Jerand, a Featherfolk will join your party. My party was level 27, and Ioshua started at level 20, so now you know he's really weak, so you should level him up a bit. As you start your second run through Purgatorium, go into another large room. Go through the left door and pull the switch. Now go through the right door. From there, go east first and acquire another 100 SP. Now go back and head north. In this room you'll see 4 types of spheres - blue, green, orange and red. You have to touch them to make something happen. First touch the green one to teleport to the chest with the FROGHEAD, and then touch the blue one - to get to the door. The red ones throws you into a battle, and the orange one teleports to the entrance of ths room, so don't touch them. Anyway, head through the door. In here, take the path left first to find yet another 50 SP bonus. Then go through the door. Same sphere puzzle here - touch the green sphere to get RESURRECTION ELIXIR and RING OF RESISTANCE , but before touching the blue one, go left and right and hit the switches. Now touch the blue sphere and go through the door. Save your game and proceed. In this room touch one of the blue spheres to eventually get a ?MINERAL and then touch the orange one, then the other orange one, and then the left orange sphere to get to the next door. Go right for a 100 SP bonus, and left to heal your party. Then proceed north. ==================== BOSS: 4 Hound Shapes ==================== Hit Points: 5000 each Magic Points: 50 Difficulty: Normal You'll be dazed from the beginning of the battle, so be careful not to let Ioshua die fast. His concern should be healing everyone in your party. Just take out the damn hounds one by one and do not let them circle you, and eventually you'll emerge victorious. Enter the next door. A scene follows. Afterwards you'll be taken back to the entrance of Purgatorium. If you have either Cyuss or Ashlay they'll say that this was a waste of time. You'll have two options - to agree (AR up)or to disagree (AR down). Ioshua will try to leave the party, so if you want some more characters later in the game, I suggest you leave him. Now go to Tropp - this town is situated at the opposite site of Purgatorium. Remember the fork you ran into while going to Purgatorium? Last time you went east, now go west until you reach Tropp. ========================================================================== Tropp Recommended level: 27-28 Items: ?Item Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== As you enter Tropp, a cutscene will activate. After that, the party will decide to got to Muah Continent. It doesn't matter which option you will choose when Ilia asks you to go to the crash site, as you'll have to go regardless. But for now, wander around Tropp, visit the equipment shop and buy some new weapons and armors. From the first screen, you can go east one screen and enter a house where you'll find a chest with ?ITEM. You won't have to go to Portmith by foot as you can take a special service ship to Portmith and get there in no time. From Portmith, go through Mt. Metorx and Haute until you come to a bridge, from where you should clearly see the "hole" in the ground with something sticking out of it. That is the crash site. As you enter, a scene will take place and after exploring the crash site the party will decide to go further in Silvalant. On your way back you MAY try to visit Mt. Metorx Abandoned Mine, but I do not advice you to do it, if you aren't somewhere near level 40 already. If you decided to go there, remember that the entrance to the mine is on the first screen of Mt. Metorx, behind a giant boulder. Anyway, return to Tropp from Portmith and from Tropp go to Eckdart by ship. ========================================================================== Eckdart Recommended level: 28-29 Items: Spectacles Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== As soon as you enter Eckdart, a cutscene will activate. From the ship dock, go north, then southwest and enter the Inn. Another cutscene, and after it you'll finally get Millie back (Note that if you have Ashlay and Ioshua, she won't join now)! The party will decide to depart from here to search for missing Ronyx, but for now, let's explore the town a bit more. From the Inn, go northeast, then southeast and enter the closest house. Open the chest here to find SPECTACLES. Check out the music shop, where you can buy various instruments. I my opinion, the only item worth buying here is Silver Trumpet, but assuming you don't have 300000 Fol now, move on. Also check the Jewellery shop next to the music shop, if you need to buy some materials. Moreover, you can buy some LV 3 skill sets here, which is awesome. When you're done, exit Eckdart via south entrance. As you exit, Ioshua (if you have him) says he needs to go to the man who saved him from certain death long ago. On the world map, hug the mountain edge until you come to the Mt. Eckdart . If you don't have Ioshua, scroll down to the Ionis section. ========================================================================== Mt. Eckdart Recommended level: 30-31 Items: Blueberries, Spectacles, Fine Shield, Rod of Jewels, Robe of Deception, Elven Cap Enemies: Pixie, Kobold King, Lizard Axman, Gevel, Dragonfly, Savant, Cleric ========================================================================== As you enter, just follow the path, as it is completely straightforward. Take your time to level up here a bit, if you're under level 30. When you reach the hut deep in the mountain forest, a scene will start. Then you will have the choice of fighting the monsters or not: 1. Let's take 'em out! 2. ... I recommend choosing option 1, as you'll a get a good weapon for doing this little quest, and besides you'll maybe acquire some levels, if you are low-leveled. You can talk to Foster to rest and heal your HP/MP fully. Anyway, go behind Foster's hut to the intersection with a savepoint. Save. Here you'll fight the first fixed group of monsters. Check the bushes in all areas for herbs. Now go west from the intersection, and you'll come into yet another one. From here, go west, north and south, defeat the monsters and open the chests for BLUEBERRIES, SPECTACLES and a FINE SHIELD for Roddick. Now go back to the savepoint and this time go north. After dealing with the monsters pick up the ROD OF JEWELS. Return to the save point. Now go east, fight the monsters and get ROBE OF DECEPTION and ELVEN CAP from the chests. When all of the monsters are vanquished, return to Foster, and he'll give you ELVEN BOW. Get out of Mt. Eckdart. To Ionis. ========================================================================== Ionis Recommended level: 33-34 Items: Resurrection Elixir Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== As the party enters Ionis, a cutscene takes place after which you finally get Ronyx back. Moreover, there's a new secret character, Mavelle Froessen who will soon join your party (assuming you have Ioshua or Ashlay). Then the scene is continued at the bar. There are three possible variations of the scene (first - if you have Cyuss or don't have him, the second - if you have Ioshua, and the third - if you have Ashlay). Well, anyway, after the long scene Mavelle will join the party (look at the notes above). If you only have Ashlay and Ioshua (but you don't have Millie), there will be a different situation between Ronyx and Roddick/Ilia. After that, you're free to explore the town. Vist the Creator's Workshop, as you can buy very useful items there, such as Smith's Hammer, to help with improving your weapons and making them more powerful. The other thing to take note of here is the Lezard Flask. This is an item you'll need much later in the game (it let's you make Philosopher's Stones, the coolest, rarest and most expensive things in the game), so you should definitely buy it. It costs 40000 Fol, if you don't have that much, go to the world map and earn the money. The other item I advice you to buy is Beret which increases your success rate in Writing and increases your chances to learn a secret talent. Though, if you don't want to hunt for the money now, you can leave that for later. If you cross the bridge in the middke of the town from right to left and enter the house closest to you, you'll find RESURRECTION ELIXIR in the chest. Also visit the Skill guild to buy Knowledge 3 Skill Set. You should have all the skill sets now, except for Combat 3. Now that you have all the skills you need for Item Creation, you may try to make something valuable via Customization, Alchemy, Crafting, etc. Don't forget to save before attempting any Item Creation, and reload if you fail. Next destination - Van y Ille City. ========================================================================== Silvalant Continent Recommended level: 35-36 Items: N/A Enemies: Pixie, Kobold King, Lizard Axman, Dire Wolf, Magician, Savant, Cleric ========================================================================== From Ionis, go north (I mean the opposite path to where you came from). If you will pass two bridges, you are on the right way. You should level up while you travel to Van for a couple of levels. When you're ready enter the town that looks like a giant castle. ========================================================================== Van y Ille City Recommended level: 36-37 Items: ?Item, Spectacles Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== After you enter this strange town, the party decides to go to the king, but before doing that, check the shops and collect the items. From the first area go west and up the stairs, then at the fork turn south and make a curve to get to a chest with ?ITEM. Then go back, this time go north to the next screen. Enter the house to find a hidden chest with SPECTACLES. Go to the Skill Guild and buy Combat 3 skill set. Now you should have all the skills in the game. I suggest buying a Zweihander for Cyuss here (if you have him), Taloned Knuckles for Ilia and Water Orb for Mavelle. When you're ready go to the king's castle. A scene will take place, after which you will find yourself in... ========================================================================== Labyrinth of Champions Recommended level: 36-37 Items: Emerald Ring, Amulet od Flexibility, ?Item Enemies: Pixie, Savage, Sorceress, Wisp ========================================================================== After you're in the cave, go back up the stairs to find an EMERALD RING. Go back to the labyrinth. Enter the middle door. Go east and enter the next door to find a chest with AMULET OF FLEXIBILITY. Continue going west. Then turn south and west again. Enter the west door first to get ?ITEM. Enter the east door after it. Continue to the next one. You should be in a room with a tablet which says: "Where there is light, there is shadow". Go north. North again. In this room, save and read the stone tablet. It says: "The true path lies in the shadow". This is quite a frustrating puzzle at first. It is based on the sun (which rises from the east) principle, so you have to hit the corresponding switches from west to east. To easily solve the puzzle, hit the switches in the 1st (the far left door), 3rd, 5th, and 6th doors. Do not touch the switches in the 2nd and 7th doors. After you pull the last switch, you should hear a clicking sound which means you've done everything right. Heal your party members and descend the opened pathway to underground. ======================== BOSS: 3 Wisps & Peryton ======================== Hit Points: 18400 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Normal Peryton has A LOT of HP, but he's still weak as a child if you have good weapons. First things first, get rid of those nasty Wisps, who like to silence your party every ten seconds. After they're gone, it's not that hard to kill Peryton, if you have something like the Sword of Marvels on hand. Just pummel him with everything you've got until he's dead. After dealing with the boss, continue west and just follow the path until you come out to the minister. You'll be taken back to the castle. A scene will start ,after which the king will give you the VAN EMBLEM. Moreover, you'll get FOUR BEASTS SFT. The cutscene will continue at the inn. After the cutscene, when Roddick wakes up you have the option to choose: 1. I remember 2. Tell me again If you choose the second option, Ronyx will explain that you need to get all four emblems all around the planet Roak and return them to the king of Van. Now you have only one emblem, so there's three to go. First let us go to Astralian continent, to the Astral City. If you don't remember how to get there, from Van y Ille go to Ionis, from Ionis to Eckdart, then take a ship to Tropp, from Tropp to Tatroi, exit Tatroi via west entrance, run through the Astral Caves and finally arrive to the Astral City. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION A PA between Roddick and Cyuss/Roddick and Ashlay -------------------------------------------------------------------------- ========================================================================== Astral City Recommended Level: 38-39 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================= Enter the king's castle, the guards will stop you, but Phia will come and invite you. After talking to the king of Astral, you'll get the ASTRAL EMBLEM. If you talk to Phia afterwards, she'll join you if you have six or less members in your party (and if you have Cyuss or Ashlay). Moreover, now you obtain her SFT. Now if you go to Tatroi and fight any rank higher than E, in the fifth battle you'll fight against T'Nique, another secret character. Defeat him and he'll join if you have a free slot in your party. OK, it seems now you have two emblems of the four. Next stop - Silvalant. Go to Van y Ille City again, and from there go north until you reach the checkpoint. After a little scene involving the Van Emblem, you'll be permitted to pass. Enter the Van y Silvalant Caves. The path is straightforward, but don't forget to grab a COMBO LINK accessory and a GREEN BERYL on your way. Exit into the snowy plains. ========================================================================== Silvalant Continent Recommended level: 38-39 Items: N/A Enemies: Scylla, Wisp, Cuniculus, Shaman, Lizard Axman, Savant, Cleric, Drow Healer, Petri Gevel ========================================================================== As soon as you're out of the Van y Silvalant Caves, I advice you level up a little to reach at least level 40. Now is the time to go to Mt. Metorx Abandoned Mine, but you'll have the opportunity to do so a little bit later, so there's no need in backtracking now. The closest to you is the town of Durss. Enter it. ========================================================================== Durss Recommended level: 40-41 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== It's a really poor town here. Most of the houses are abandoned, and there is not so much people too. They can give the directions on how to get to Silvalant. You'll notice that the shops sell equipment that is equal to what your starting equipment was, so you probably won't buy anything good in here. Rest at the Inn if you need and exit the town. While near Durss, look at your world map (START button) and you'll see a red dot not far from where you are now (the dot which is on the land, not in the sea). Head there. ========================================================================== Silvalant City Recommended level: 41-42 Items: Blueberries, Resurrection Mist, Damascus Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== Millie will join you here (finally), if she hasn't joined you in Eckdart. As you enter this snowy city, check the shops here and I can tell you that this is the place where the strongest buyable weapons and armor are. From the entrance go all the way east for a chest with BLUEBERRIES. This is Silvalant dock, but the ship service doesn't work. For now. Also check one of the houses for a RESURRECTION MIST. From the plaza (the area with the clock) go NE to see a pine. Go behind it and press X. There's a hidden shop here! Santa the Dealer sells awesome accessories which cost gigantic amounts of money. If you've sold Fanfic X and have some spare money, I advice you to buy Jewel of the Frog here. This item will let you exit dungeons momentarily. It costs 100000 Fol. The other item to take note of is Magical Rasp, which will improve you success rate in Machinery and Customization Item Creation. You should buy it. The Music Editor is kinda useless, because you can easily compose music without it. Don't look at the Santa's Boots and the tri-Emblem for now, they're way too expensive. If you're wondering how to get so much money, I can tell about a Philosopher's Stone trick in the SECRETS section. When you're done with shopping, go to the castle of the city. After the scene you'll get the SILVALANT EMBLEM. The only emblem left is the Muah. If you're in the castle, go to the long hall behind the yard and open a chest with DAMASCUS in the east end. Exit the castle. Now that the ship service started functioning fully, you can go to any continent you want. I also highly recommend doing the Abandoned Mine sidequest now, and recruiting Welch, Pericci, T'Nique and Erys if you want these characters. Go to Portmith. Go to Portmith castle. A scene will occur here. You will need to purge the treasury first to actually get the Muah Emblem. ========================================================================== Castle Treasury Recommended level: 43-44 Items: Luxurious Sword, Luxurious Rod, Luxurious Robe, Medicine Bottle, Feline SFT, Luxurious Armor, Resurrection Elixir, Luxurious Armor, Luxurious Rod, Luxurious Sword, Luxurious Robe, Medicine Bottle, Bagua SFT, ?Jewelry Enemies: Mephisto, Berserker, Stidge, Shadow Beast ========================================================================== !!!!!Before starting this dungeon, if you're using Roddick, Cyuss, Ashlay, Phia, Ioshua or Millie, I highly advice to level up their Customization to level 10. This is because there are a lot of powerful weapons which you'll lose by finishing this little quest. So my advice is to customize them with Mithril, Orichalcum and Rainbow Diamond so you won't lose them. That way you will keep them. For creating the aforementioned minerals you also needMillie's/Ioshua's/Ronyx's/Mavelle's Alchemy at max level and a Lezard Flask, or you can get these minerals from the abandoned mine. Anyway, forge the weapons or you'll lose them. Luxurious Sword + Mithril/Rainbow Diamond = Souleater for Roddick/Ashlay Luxurious Sword + Mithril = Blade of Doom for Cyuss Luxurious Sword + Mithril = Ice Coffin for Phia Luxurious Rod + Mithril/Moonrock = Scepter of the Bunny for Millie/Ioshua Luxurious Rod + Orichalcum = Rod of the Feather for Millie/Ioshua!!!!! B1F Check the two rooms you pass for a LUXURIOUS SWORD, LUXURIOUS ROD and LUXURIOUS ROBE. Continue the path east and south to B2F. B2F Check the rooms again for a MEDICINE BOTTLE, FELINE SFT and a LUXURIOUS ARMOR. To B3F. B3F Go east and into the north door for a RESURRECTION ELIXIR. Go back and follow the path to another LUXURIOUS ARMOR, LUXURIOUS ROD and LUXURIOUS SWORD. Go south and into the door for BAGUA SFT. Now follow the same path on the west side to get LUXURIOUS ROBE and MEDICINE BOTTLE. Descend to B4F. B4F Save. Go through the door. ============== BOSS: Succubus ============== Hit Points: 54000 Magic Points: 50 Difficulty: Semi-Hard The difficulty of this battle depends on your levels and equipment. If you have Souleater/Blade of Doom, the Succubus will fall in a minute. If not, read on. First of all, the boss starts the battle surrounded by seven Shadow Beasts, so take them out of your path first. Then go straight for the boss. Succubus is quite fast, so keeping to her might be a problem. Set Millie to attack with all her might, maybe it'll help. You also have to interrupt Succubus with the Dragon Slash skill, so she won't kill your characters so easily. If you're overleveled, i.e. somewhere over 50, she won't be able to kill you so often. After the scene, go into the door behind the place where Succubus was to find a chest with ?JEWELRY. Backtrack to the entrance. After the prime minister thanks you, you lose all the Luxurious items you have in your inventory (if you did what I told you to do, you'll lose only armors). Eventually you'll get 20000 Fol, 200 SP and a HAMMER CHARM for your efforts. After that, you'll obtain the MUAH EMBLEM. Looks like now you have all needed emblems, so get back to Van Kingdom, to Van y Ille City. ========================================================================== Van y Ille City Recommended level: 45-46 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== After you enter the Van castle once again, there will yet another scene where you show all the emblems to the king and obtain the information on where to go next. It's... Purgatorium. Yes, again. Anyway, if you haven't been there before (to refresh your memory, you could go there when Phia/ one of her soldiers asked you to), from Van y Ille City head to Ionis, from Ionis to Eckdart, then take a ship to Tropp and from Tropp go in the direction of Tatroi, but when the road will come to a fork, go along the path that DOESN'T lead to Tatroi. You'll reach a hole in the mountain. It's the Highland caves. Go through them to find yourself in the large deserted area. There's a building not far away. That building is the one and only Purgatorium. However, do not enter it. Instead, go east, hugging the mountain, until you find the secret entrance. Now run through the Purgatorium once again to reach the room with the Runes. If you don't know how or you forgot, look in PURGATORIUM section where it is explained in detail. Anyway, after a scene in the Runes' chamber you'll be in... ========================================================================== Purgatorium Inner Sanctum Recommended level: 49-50 Items: ?Item, Flare Ring, R-Card, Aqua Ring, ?Mineral, ?Mineral, Air Slicer, Arbalest, Mandrake, Mist Insignia, B-Card, Sour Syrup, ?Mineral, ?Herb, Sour Syrup, ?Item, Ring of Lunacy, Angel Statuette Enemies: Aspitel Prototype, Viking Spirit, Fighter Spirit, Warrior Spirit, Gunner L1 ========================================================================== Wow, that was an unexpected twist of events... Anyway, the enemies here can be a challenge to a low-leveled party, but if you've done the Abandoned mine and Old Race Ruins sidequests, you should be fine. Besides, there's no boss in this place, so that'll be quite a relief. The enemies also give a lot of EXP here, so grind a bit while navigating the dungeon. B1F From the point where you start, go up the stairs for a chest with ?ITEM. Then descend the stairs and go north to B2F. B2F Follow the path for a FLARE RING, then go east and south, in the next area west to B3F B3F Go into the room in the back of this area. Fight the group of enemies and get the R-CARD which all the red doors you may have noticed while going here. Open all the red doors to find AQUA RING, ?MINERAL, ?MINERAL and AIR SLICER. The last red room treasure is ARBALEST for Ronyx. Back to B1F. B1F Go to where you got the ?Item and go west and north. Follow the only path and grab the MANDRAKE along the way; descend to B2F. B2F It's again a straight path to B3F. Don't forget to grab MIST INSIGNIA on your way. B3F Save here. Go right and pull three switches. Check the right door for B-CARD. You'll have to fight a few enemies here too. Then check the other doors for SOUR SYRUP, ?MINERAL, ?HERB. Save again. Go north from the save point then left to B4F. In there, pull the switch and reurn to B3F. Now go right to the stairs. B4F Take SOUR SYRUP first, then up the stairs and west for ?ITEM. Pull the switch. Go east, take the RING OF LUNACY. Down the stairs and northwest. Open the chest for an ANGEL STATUETTE and enter the room. Save. There will be a little scene. After it, go to the PC system and insert the emblems in order: ASTRAL - VAN - SILVALANT - MUAH. Another long scene, after which you will finally obtain the EYE OF TRUTH. You'll be back into Van Castle. After talking to the king, you need to go to Silvalant and from there take a ship to the Deserted Island. Also, if you want a powerful SFT for Roddick, and if you have Ashlay, go to Van and do a PA there with Ashlay. And after going to the Island, eventually you will find yourself in the so-called Demon World. ========================================================================== Demon World Recommended level: 52-53 Items: N/A Enemies: N/A ========================================================================== Heh, as soon as you enter, there's a boss to give you a warm welcome! ========== BOSS: D.A. ========== Hit Points: 57000 Magic Points: 0 Drops: Gale Earring Difficulty: Normal This fight may seem tough for Lv 30-35 characters, but again, if you're at the recommended level, you'll obliterate him quickly. He is fast, but a thing like Dragon Slash or Divine Wrath will rip his heart out. Nothing special, just another wannabe boss. After this man identifies himself, you'll be teleported back to planet Roak, to Astral City, right in the middle of the battle. Another boss coming up. =============== BOSS: Arachmene =============== Hit Points: 34950 Magic Points: 100 Difficulty: Normal This fight is even easier, as all that thing does is moving fast and doing measley damage to you. I bet you'll finish her off in 20 seconds. Another scene. Woohoo, now you have two Force Swords! I tell you right away, make a good waepon for Roddick/Ashlay: Force Sword + Philosopher's Stone = Silvance Wow, Silvane is even mightier than Souleater. I don't suggest wasting another Force Sword on Cyuss, as you can only make a Berserk Blade from it, which has the same attack power as Searing Blade. If you don't have Searing Blade, then you SHOULD customize the Force Sword. Before returning to the Demon World, there another thing to do in the Silvalant City (if you have Ashlay). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRIVATE ACTION A PA between Roddick and Ashlay. Talk to Ashlay in the courtyard to get the Wyrm King SFT (Must have high AR with Ashlay). -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now you can go to the Demon World for real. ========================================================================== Demon World Recommended level: 52-53 Items: Sweet Syrup, Green Beryl, ?Herb, Lavender, Foot Insignia, ?Weapon, Emerald Ring, Orichalcum Enemies: Killer Rabbit, Deathteller, Little Devil, Alraune, Raptor King ========================================================================== Now you can explore the Demon World to your heart's content. Go left for a SWEET SYRUP. Then back and north. In the next screen go right for a GREEN BERYL. Back and north, then west and north again to get ?HERB. Then go back two screens and move east. From here, west for a LAVENDER. Go back and north, then north again to get a FOOT INSIGNIA. Then go back again and this time go northwest, then north for ?WEAPON and south. Go northwest to save. From the savepoint, go west one screen to open a chest with EMERALD RING, then back and south for ORICHALCUM. Finally, go north. Follow the way east for a scene. Enter this strange building. ========================================================================== Space-Time Laboratory Recommended level: 54-55 Items: Elven Cap, Amulet of Freedom, Rainbow Diamond, Medicine Bottle, Star Ruby, ?Armor, Medicine Bottle, Mithril, Robe of Deception, Star Necklace, Long Spear, Ring of Insanity, Cinderella Glass, ?Jewelry, Hammer Charm, Ravenous Fiend, Orichalcum, ?Jewelry, Elemental Blade, Tedious Handy Stick, Elven Slippers Enemies: Otiph, Sorcerer, Aspitel, ENK, Angel Knight ========================================================================== After the little scene, go west up the stairs and then down the stairs and west for ELVEN CAP and AMULET OF FREEDOM. Then up the stairs and north for a RAINBOW DIAMOND. Backtrack to the entrance to the laboratory and go east. Go east all the way, then north for a MEDICINE BOTTLE. Then west and west again until you find a chest with STAR RUBY. Go east and north. Follow the way to ?ARMOR and MEDICINE BOTTLE. Go back to the place where you found the first Medicine Bottle. Go west again and then east, check the north room for a MITHRIL and ROBE OF DECEPTION. From this exact place, go SOUTH (the path is kinda hard to see), and then east. From here, go southwest for a STAR NECKLACE, then up the stairs and follow the path to get LONG SPEAR and RONG OF INSANITY. Return to the intersection. Go east. Head up the stairs for CINDERELLA GLASS. Then go the only way left - east. You'l be at yet another fork. Go southwest to find ?JEWELRY, RAVENOUS FIEND spell for Ronyx and ORICHALCUM. Then go back to the fork and go north. Save your game and go north. First, go west for a HAMMER CHARM. After that head north to fight: ===================================== BOSS: Death Charona x2 and Darkeye x2 ===================================== Death Charona Hit Points: 15400 each Magic Points: 140 each Darkeye Hit Points: 49800 each Magic Points: 70 each Difficulty: Semi-Hard This battle can be a pain to the party with low levels or low defense. Go for the two Charonas first, they will go down pretty fast. Then focus all your attacks on Darkeyes. Their spin attack can hit hard or even kill, so watch out. Silvance on Roddick/Ashlay doesn't work, so use something else. You can also set a strategy for Millie like "Attack with all you've got!". I'm sure it'll help a lot. Go back and save, first of all. Then go back to the place where you fought the Darkeyes, and go north. Then continue north until the intersection. At the intersection take the path west for ?JEWELRY and ELEMENTAL BLADE. Back and east. Go east again for TEDIOUS HANDY STICK and ELVEN SLIPPERS. Then go southwest. Follow the path to the door. After you enter the door and save later in the game, you won't be able to return to Roak. So if you have some unfinished business here, either turn back or create a separate game file. If you decided to enter the door, here's what's waiting you there: ======== BOSS: A. ======== Hit Points: 57000 Magic Points: 570 Difficulty: Semi-Hard Finally, a real battle with HIM. He can pummel you with his magic, killing your characters over and over. So if you don't want to run out of those Resurrection Elixirs/Mists in the heat of the battle, attack with all your might. That's all I can say to you. Spirit Strike him to death, use Cyuss for Dragon Surge, Millie should use Fairie Light/Raise Dead only. After all this battle is not VERY hard, but can be a challenge. If you're around level 70, it's gonna be much easier. After the scene with Fargett soldiers, you will be back on Roak and then travel to your time. But it's not the end of the game. There's actually more. An unexpected twist of events will bring to the planet Fargett, and Ilia with Ronyx and all the characters you've recruited will join you once again. You'll start at the Safe House. You can buy all skill sets here, and moreover, the Resistance Soldier here sells all the items which you could buy in shops during the game plus the items from Santa the Dealer and Silvalant City weapons and armors. Exit to the "world map". ========================================================================== Fargett Recommended level: 56-57 Items: N/A Enemies: Black Slime, SZK, Gunner L2, Jaguar Spirit, Geburah Phoenix ========================================================================== Level up here a bit, as soon you will be in the final dungeon, and you'll need those levels. The enemies here are not very difficult. From the Safe House, go southwest to reach... ========================================================================== Army Camp Recommended level: 59-60 Items: Resurrection Mist, Medicine Bottle, Medicine Bottle, Mithril Enemies: Aspitel MK2, Gunner L3, BOK ========================================================================== Hit the two blue switches to open a room with RESURRECTION MIST. Go back and go east two screens, then south and west two screens, pull the green switch and take a MEDICINE BOTTTLE. Go back 2 screens. Now run through the opposite door. Pull the green switch and grab the MEDICINE BOTTLE. Go back two screens again. Now go through the northeast door, hit two red switches for a MITHRIL. Go back two screens. Now, after you've got all the items, enter the north door for a scene. You'll get your missing party members back. You'll end up at the Safe House again, and now you should prepare for the final dungeon. Buy all the necessary items and materials you need and exit the Safe House. You can also do a PA here. After you're done you have to go north to the Revorse Tower. But you can't enter it freely, so you'll have to use the Bio-lab. The Bio-lab is situated next to the Tower. As you enter the Bio-lab, there'll be a little scene. After the scene, use the ladder in this room to get down to the underground tunnel. Run through it (it's a straight path), climb the ladder to finally get inside the last (or maybe not...) dungeon of the game. ========================================================================== Revorse Tower Recommended level: 64-65 Items: Demon's Gate, Star Guard, Assault Bomb, Mithril Greaves, Sour Syrup, Medicine Bottle, ?Armor, Rainbow Diamond, Meteor Swarm, Elven Slippers, Iron, Artemis Leaf, ?Armor, Medicine Bottle, Mithril Helm, Orichalcum, Defense Bomb, Sour Syrup, ?Armor, Resurrection Mist, Mithril, ?Armor, Spectacles, ?Weapon, ?Herb, Sour Syrup, ?Herb, Refreshing Syrup, Elven Slippers, Resurrection Mist, Dream Crown Enemies: Fatty Ooze, Dragon Eye, Larva Worm, Star Seraphim, Puma Spirit, Necromancer Spirit, IGK, Gunner L4, Aspitel MK3, Dark Phoenix ========================================================================== First of all, let me tell you, this dungeon is a lot more bigger than any of those you went through previously. The savepoints are on 4F and 7F. If you want to return to Fargett, use the north exit of the screen where you start. 1F OK, here we go. From the starting area, go south, then east all the way to the teleporter, then west. The left room contains a chest with the DEMON'S GATE spell. Go back and west for a little scene. Go west into the next area, enter the left and far left doors for STAR GUARD and ASSAULT BOMB. Afterwards enter the right door, grabbing MITHRIL GREAVEs along the way. Continue further. There are four rooms. Check the northwest room for SOUR SYRUP and north room for MEDICINE BOTTLE. Now go into northeast door and check one of the rooms there for ?ARMOR. Go back. Enter the southeast room to warp to 2F. 2F Go west all the way, then east two doors. Then check the left door and far east door to get RAINBOW DIAMOND and METEOR SWARM spell for Ronyx. Enter the right door. Grab ELVEN SLIPPERS and IRON on your way. Enter the west door. Grab ARTEMIS LEAF and ?ARMOR on your way to 3F. 3F East, grab the MEDICINE BOTTLE from the left and follow the only way to 4F. 4F Go all the way to the savepoint. Then go west. Enter the right room for MITHRIL HELM, far left room for ORICHALCUM. Then enter the left door, and on your way to 3F take the DEFENSE BOMB. 3F Go south and west for SOUR SYRUP. Then east. Grab ?ARMOR and RESURRECTION MISt along the path. To 4F again. 4F Go all the way to 5F, but before going there, check the other room for MITHRIL. 5F Go south for ?ARMOR. Reurn to the previous area, check the upper door for SPECTACLES and move on. Go north into the room with ?WEAPON, then back and west. Go to 6F, and don't forget to collect ?HERB and SOUR SYRUP on your way. 6F Follow the only way there is, checking the rooms for ?HERB and REFRESHING SYRUP. Then go into north room for ELVEN SLIPPERS. Go back and move east now, take RESURRECTION MIST and DREAM CROWN from the chests in the rooms. Then go east for SOUR SYRUP, and take the left door which will lead you to 5F again. 5F Follow the way to 6F again. 6F Follow the way to 7F. 7F Go north to save your game. This is the Final Savepoint which opens the Oracle Room and the Voice Gallery section in the main menu. Continue two screens to the north for the final battles. Make sure you have a lot of HP/MP healing items. =========== BOSS: J. R. =========== Hit Points: 55500 Magic Points: 550 Difficulty: Semi-Hard If you're at a low level, this is going to be HARD. And I mean it. This guy will slaughter you with his "Immortal Tempest" spell which hits at the very least two characters. The problem is, he uses it quite often. Having 6000-7000 HP really helps here (at least your characters won't die if you get hit by the spell). The other massive spell he can use is the "Abyss Cascade" which is too quite damaging. The boss starts using it when he's HP is less than 50%. It's really pointless to make some strategies here - just hack away until he dies. Millie/Ioshua/Erys should be Faerie Light'in everyone in your party and use Raise Dead if needed. After he "dies", the real final battle begins. ================ FINAL BOSS: N.R. ================ Hit Points: 94500 Magic Points: 940 Difficulty: Hard If you barely survived the previous battle, this is gonna be helluva fight. His "Sacred Law" is not that intimidating, as i only hits one character, so Millie should always use Faerie Healing afterwards. His other attack is what you really have to be afraid of. "Seraphic Storm" hits virtually the whole field, so if you're underleveled , you'll be seeing your characters dying left and right. Apply the same strategy here. When he's not using any spells, he just hits you with ordinary physical attacks, and blocks all YOUR attacks with his horns. You have to quickly run behind his back and keep slashing him and interrupting him from damaging your characters. You should have about 10 seconds to hit him before he launches another "Seraphic Storm". All in all, this battle won't be hard for a well-prepared party. ========================================================================== The ending you'll get is based on AR with the other characters ========================================================================== After the credits roll, you will see the "FIN" mark. CONGRATULATIONS!!! You did it!!! You have beaten STAR OCEAN: FIRST DEPARTURE!!! For additional challenge, look in the CAVE OF THE SEVEN STARS section. ========================================================================== III. SIDE-QUESTS AND SECRETS ========================================================================== ========================================================================== IIIA. SIDE-QUESTS ========================================================================== ======================================================== Mt. Eckdart Recommended level: 30-31 Items: Blueberries, Spectacles, Fine Shield, Rod of Jewels, Robe of Deception, Elven Cap Enemies: Pixie, Kobold King, Lizard Axman, Gevel, Dragonfly, Savant, Cleric Available: after clearing Purgatorium for the first time ======================================================== You must have Ioshua for this quest. As you exit Eckdart, he will mention this place. To get here, frokm Eckdart go west and hug the mountain until you come into the forest path. As you enter, just follow the path, as it is completely straightforward. Take your time to level up here a bit, if you're under level 30. When you reach the hut deep in the mountain forest, a scene will start. Then you will have the choice of fighting the monsters or not: 1. Let's take 'em out! 2. ... I recommend choosing option 1, as you'll a get a good weapon for doing this little quest, and besides you'll maybe acquire some levels, if you are low-leveled. You can talk to Foster to rest and heal your HP/MP fully. Anyway, go behind Foster's hut to the intersection with a savepoint. Save. Here you'll fight the first fixed group of monsters. Check the bushes in all areas for herbs. Now go west from the intersection, and you'll come into yet another one. From here, go west, north and south, defeat the monsters and open the chests for BLUEBERRIES, SPECTACLES and a FINE SHIELD for Roddick. Now go back to the savepoint and this time go north. After dealing with the monsters pick up the ROD OF JEWELS. Return to the save point. Now go east, fight the monsters and get ROBE OF DECEPTION and ELVEN CAP from the chests. When all of the monsters are vanquished, return to Foster, and he'll give you ELVEN BOW. Get out of Mt. Eckdart. ========================================== SECRET CHARACTER: T'NIQUE ARCANA Available: after starting the Emblem quest ========================================== After starting the hunt for the emblems, go to Tatroi's Arena and fight your way up to rank D with Roddick. Now pay attention. When you've done with first four battles a challenger will jump into the arena and turn into a wolf. You'll have to deal with him... ============== RIVAL: T'Nique ============== Hit Points: 10000 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Semi-easy On level 70, not hard at all. He may be not hard even at level 50, SFT's will help a lot, as does having Holy Sword, Sword of Marvels or even Soul Eater. Just take him down real quick. After the battle, if you have six or less party membres, you'll have two options - to let him join or not. The choice is completely yours, I will just say he's quite a decent male fighter, although I think Cyuss/Ashlay are better. ============================================= SECRET CHARACTER: PERICCI Available: after getting the Silvalant Emblem ============================================= First of all, let me remind that you meet Pericci for the first time in the Pirates' Hideout. When you're back in Portmith, she runs away and loses her Ocarina instrument. You ABSOLUTELY must pick it up. It lies on the dock, sparkling. Save this item for later. After getting the Silvalant Emblem, go to Kraat and PA it. Talk to Millie and you'll have 4 options to choose from - how to name a cat: 1. How about Spot? 2. How about Pomga? 3. How about PERICCI? 4. How about Lumi? The right answer is, of course, Pericci. It's even written in capital letters which is indicating the right answer. Now approach the cat, equip the Ocarina and press X near the cat (but not too near). After a short scene Pericci will finally join the party (if you have a free slot, that is)! She starts with only a Bikini, so equip her properly (you could've bought a Fashionable Bikini for her in Silvalant City). She also has an item which lets you nullify ALL random encounters on the world map. A sweet thing, let me tell you. Note that you must do a PA in Portmith to get this item (after getting Pericci). =================================== Getting the Bunny Whistle Available: after recruiting Pericci =================================== After getting Pericci (look at the section above), go to Portmith and PA it. Hmmm, where could Pericci go? Go north into the Portmith castle for a little scene. Agree to help Pericci just to find out that you need to go to Haute. Go there and do another PA. Approacn Badam's Shop to see Pericci and Ilia there. Talk to Pericci for another humorous scene. After it, you will obtain the Bunny Whistle. It lets you call for a giant bunny which you can ride and there will be no random encounters on the world map! =============================================== Mt. Metorx Abandoned Mine Recommended level: 45-50 Items: ?Armor, Steel Helmet, Ankh Shield, Steel Armor, Resurrection Elixir, Mind Bomb, Dwarven Guard, ?Armor, Blueberries, Astral Sword, Silver Greaves, Dwarven Sword, Emerald Ring, ?Item, Cinderella Glass Enemies: Ruffian, Untrained Assassin, Bloodworm, Acolyte, Shadow Flower Available: after travelling to the past of Roak =============================================== This optional dungeon is available almost at the beginning of the game, but requires a decent amount of levels gained and preparations made. First of all, you should be no lower than level 40, going here on lower levels is considered a suicide, unless you have Sword of Marvels or something (even this sword is not enough). Also, equip a Pickaxe as you can collect very rare and useful ores here. From the entrance, head west and then NW. Follow the way to a chest with ?ARMOR. Now go south. Follow the path and the turn north. At another fork go north for an ANKH SHIELD and RESURRECTION ELIXIR. There's also a STEEL HELMET somewhere. Then go to the passage leading east. Alright, a change of area landscape. Go north and west at the fork for a STEEL ARMOR and a MIND BOMB. Now go back and east at the fork - to get SILVER GREAVES and ?ITEM. Go all the way back and now head south. Keep going south until you hit the chest with DWARVEN GUARD. Then go east and north till the end to find ?ARMOR and BLUEBERRIES. Back to the previous fork, go east this time. Save your game. Advance further. ================== BOSS: JABBERWABBIT ================== Hit Points: 45000 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Normal If you're around level 40 or even 50, this battle will be a breeze. This "thing" is surrounded by Shadow Flowers, so kill them off first. After that, it's just a matter of time till Jabberwabbit goes down. You should probably use Millie/Ioshua, as sometimes this boss can hit hard, but all in all, harder battles are still to come. After you defeat the boss, go and collect the items from the chests: ASTRAL SWORD, DWARVEN SWORD, EMERALD RING, CINDERELLA GLASS. You're done here. I advice you to use this area for leveling and collecting rare ores if you already can't make them via Alchemy. ============================================= SECRET CHARACTER: WELCH VINEYARD Available: after getting the Silvalant Emblem ============================================= Go to Ionis. Make sure you have a free place in your party. From Ionis, head in the direction of Van y Ille City. As you know, there are two bridges in your path. Well, after passing the first bridge, rotate your camera so you can see a large forested area in the west. Go there. After navigating the forest, you'll trigger a scene when you reach the end of it. During the scene, you'll have two choices: 1. By all means. 2. I'm sorry. Choose option 1 to get Welch. ============================================= SECRET CHARACTER: ERYS JERAND Available: after getting the Silvalant Emblem ============================================= !!!!!First of all you should know that Erys is ONLY obtainable if you have Ioshua, Mavelle and Ashlay. Having only Ioshua and Mavelle will only result in losing Mavelle.!!!!! From Silvalant City, go northeast, to the end of the continent and hug the the mountains to enter... ============================================= Old Race Ruins Recommended level: 50-55 Items: Medicine Bottle, Sacrificial Doll, Wolfsbane, ?Item, Kitty Suit, Sweet Syrup, Steel Armor, Medicine Bottle, Elven Slippers, Steel Armor, Air Slicer, Silver Greaves, Divine Fury SFT, Orb of the Valkyrie, Steel Helmet, Roundel Dagger, Robe of Deception, ?Item, Dwarven Sword, Steel Helmet, Silver Greaves, Elven Cap, Sacrificial Doll Enemies: Hound Spirit, Cuniculus, Petri Gerel, Dragon Axman, Vorpal Bunny, Berserker, Drow Healer, Witch Doctor ============================================= Equip Pickaxe here to get some pretty good minerals. B1F Start by going straight north. In the next area move east for a MEDICINE BOTTLE and then north for a SACRIFICIAL DOLL. Then go west, open the chest with WOLFSBANE along the way and advance to the next area. Descend to B2F. B2F Go south. Save and continue south for ?ITEM. Then go east for a KITTY SUIT. Equip it on Pericci, of you're using her. Now go back to the savepoint and head west and then southwest for SWEET SYRUP. Then turn northeast and enter the door for steel armor and MEDICINE BOTTLE. Head east to B4F. B4F Navigate through the hall with the sculptures until you come to a large room. ====================== BOSS: ANCIENT GUARDIAN ====================== Hit Points: 45000 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Hard At level 40, this boss will probably be a BIG problem. He constantly grinds the floor which hits you characters hard. Be prepared to see them flying here and there after getting bumped by this creature. You should have a healer like Millie at all times with a strategy like "Focus on healing your friends!". If Roddick has Sword of Marvels/Moonfalx, it will make this battle end faster. Ilia should have Cestus of Poison by now, if you're using her. The other damaging attack of this boss is when he targets a beam of light on your characters. If you get hit, it's gonna kill you right away, so be on your guard. Have a good supply of Blue/Blackberries and some Resurrection Elixirs in case Millie dies. After Ancient Guardian is dead, collect the treasures from the rooms. They are: ELVEN SLIPPERS, STEEL ARMOR, AIR SLICER, SILVER GREAVES and DIVINE FURY SFT. Return to the savepoint. Remembre where you found the KITTY SUIT? Go there, and from that place head north for a little scene, after it go to B1F. B1F Go east and enter the little door to find two chests with STEEL HELMET and ORB OF THE VALKYRIE. Then go southwest for a ROUNDEL DAGGER for Phia. Go back to the little door, and head to B2F. B2F Go north into the door again for ROBE OF DECEPTION and ?ITEM. Then go west for a DWARVEN SWORD. Head south to B3F. B3F West for STEEL HELMET. Continue going southeast to find SILVER GREAVES. Go back and head southwest to reach B4F. B4F Here, go north and turn east for an ELVEN CAP. Then keep going north again, and before the door turn west for a SACRIFICIAL DOLL. Now approach that door. Are you ready to lose Mavelle? If you are, enter it. A shocking scene takes place in this room. To recruit Erys, pick the secind option. In any case, you will lose Mavelle forever. You're done here. Backtrack to the entrance or use Jewel of the Frog. ============================================================== Encountering and defeating Gabriella (Celeste) Recommended level: 120-150 Available: after you learn The Devil's Aria via Silver Trumpet ============================================================== Gabriella is the hardest enemy in the game period. To summon her and fight her you'll need some boring, long and repetitive preparations. Unlike the SNES version, she's much harder now, so you won't be able to obliterate her at level 50. Recommended Characters: Roddick Ilia Ashlay or Cyuss (Probably Phia or Mavelle) Millie To get to high levels, check the UBER-LEVELING TRICK in SECRETS section. Preparations ------------ Phase 1: Music for summoning Gabriella First of all one of your characters has to learn Music Specialty and level it up to 10. Plus he/she has to have Listening and Rhythn Sense talents. The most suitable character to learn Music along with these talents is Millie. Just keep composing and playing other instruments until she learns them. OK, suppose you have Millie with both skills and Music at level 10. Second step is buying the Silver Trumpet. By the time you reach level 100 you SHOULD have 300000 Fol. If not, check the MILLIONAIRE in SECRETS section. You can buy the Trumpet in Tropp or Eckdart. After you have it, start composing. You should create "The Devil's Aria" pretty soon, if you still struggle, buy the Music Editor from Santa in Silvalant city for 100000 Fol. Well, anyway, eventually you'll have this melody. Phase 2: SFT's. Omega SFT, Four Beasts SFT, Wyrm King SFT, Feline SFT, God of War SFT - all should help in this battle. Making Roddick spam Dragon Slash or even Dragon Roar is great, especially if you're good with timing your attacks. Coupled with powerful weapons, Ilia's Tortoise Smash will help a lot too. Don't be afraid to try your own strategies. Phase 3: Battle Techniques/Skills A whole lot of skills would be helpful here. Roddick should have Dragon Roar/Spirit Strike, because it's a great way to stay away from Gabriella, and at the same time interrupt her. Ilia's Palm of Destruction is also reasonable here. Any long-ranged attack would do. By level 100 you should learn all the skills and specialties, but if you didn't, make sure you have maxed out Biology, Knife, Technology, Aesthetic Design and probably Poker Face. Out of Combat Skills, you must put emphasis on Qigong, Counter and Power Burst. Millie should have max Hasten Speech and Recast. Phase 4: Healing Spells/Symbology If you want to survive this battle, you must take a healer with you. I recommend Millie, cause the quite a strong healer. Don't use Ioshua, because Ioshua will get slaughtered by Gabrielle in seconds. Millie is the way to go. The optimal battle strategy for her will be "Focus on healing your friends!", but you can try the "Attack with all your might!" one too. Condition Cure, Fairie Healing, Fairie Light and Raise Dead are all the needed spells. Especially Raise Dead, cause you'll be seeing you characters dying left and right. Also think about the protection from petrification, so you won't waste your time on Condition Cur'ing your party. Phase 5: Equipment The most important part of the preparations. You'll need literally the best equipment you can get. First of all, have your characters master Alchemy, Customization, Crafting, Appraising and Blacksmith Super Specialty. Buy a good supply of Smith's Hammers, Spectacles, and Iron. I advice to start the Item Creation near some town, so you could go and restock on materials if you need to. Via alchemy at level 10, create Orichalcums, Mithrils, Moonrocks, Rune Metals, Rainbow Diamonds, Rubies and Meteorites. After you have a good supply of these ores, start creating. You SHOULD have the best weapons now if you've refined Luxurious swords/rods in the castle treasury. For Ilia/Phia/Mavelle, just have some experiments with adding Mithril/ Orichalcum/Moonrock/Philosopher's Stone to their initial Weapons. Ok, now goes armor. Via Blacksmithing at level 10: Orichalcum = Reflecting Plate Orichalcum = Dream Crown Mithril = Mithril Shield Mithril = Mithril Mesh Damascus = Dueling Helmet Meteorite = Sylvan Helmet Meteorite = Sylvan Boots Rune metal = Cloak of the Stars Moonrock = Battle Suit or what's even better, if you're using Millie, Erys or Ilia, equip them with a Robe of Deception. In my opinion, it is the best option. Next it's accessories: Well what you should do here is totally up to you. Most people advice Ring of Might/Berserker Ring combo, but I will list more accessories which may help you out. Via Crafting at level 10: Ruby = Ring of Might Rainbow Diamond = Berserker Ring Moonrock = Moonlight Ring of Absorption = found in the Cave of the Seven Stars after defeating Resfina and two Bandit Kings You may also try some tri-Emblems, if you have the money. OK, play "The Devil's Aria", exit to the world map and... ========= Gabriella ========= Hit Points: 108500 Magic Points: 500 Drops: Archangel's Bracelet (1% chance) Difficulty: Very Hard First of all, levels don't matter here really, as Gabriella can instantly kill even a 255-leveled party. It's all about the equipment. Equip Sylvan Mails and Robe of Deceptions, if you don't have them - equip Amulets of Flexibility. Amulets of Flexibility prevent petrifying, which will be your major concern in this battle. Lastly, Ring of Absorption makes this battle even more easy. Equip it on Roddick, and hack away at Gabry until she dies. But the problem is that the this ring can be found only in the Cave of the Seven Stars, so you'll probably want to wait until you're done with the cave (the ring is also breakable). The main difficulty of this battle lies in it's speed. Gabry is fast. She can instantly stone you with her lasers. If they won't petrify you, they will probably hit you. Hard. So you must try to avoid them by running all the time. Low level strategy from Dan Chen: Equip Berserker Ring for ridiculous attack up. For offensive symbology, either Ronyx or Erys should do, give them a Moonlight to start off plus a Mist Insignia, if you have 2, then double up as this will increase your constant damage variable. Disable all spells including healing spells except for Explosion, and at this point of the game Erys should deal roughly 7000-8000 damage per one Explosion use. I also found out that non-elemental blades like Sword of Marvels and Force Sword do the most consistent damage with the least amount of blocked hits.Set either Dragon Roar or Redwyrm Thundersurge as one skill for Roddick, depending on what you have and have Omega Double Slash on the other. Ashlay will have Lightray Blade and Omega Double Slash, while Ilia will have Tortoise Smash and Tiger Claw. Now, regarding the equipment, Ring of Lunacy prevents all damage and conditions for a set ammount of hits, so be wary of item breaks that will occur during the battle. Mallet Charm prevents the daze effect. You won't do as much damage with this setup with regards to physical hits, so you must rely on luck for godspeed to kick in with either of your melee chars. Lightray Blade will induce a stun lock on hit until she starts spinning, while Roddick sets up with triple hit + Omega. Ilia's skills will also stack up, you have to time your hits so there is no gap inbetween Lightray Blade and your triple hits. She can still attack you at this point with her Spike wave and destroy your items instantly but in regards to normal attacks and spells it won't even scratch you. In this short ammount of time, your offensive symbologist will have already casted explosion 2~3 times, and in most cases your continued chain attack will do Power Burst and Guardbreaks stacking up the damage to about 1000 per hit at a very high pace. When she starts spinning around the map, this is when you item up and check on your party. If there's nothing wrong, just toss an Assault Bomb for around 6000 damage. The fight shouldn't last more then 3 minutes with this setup. On to Shield Ring... Her normal 1 hit kills and 8000 up attacks are reduced to about 500 and you can't be petrified except illia. Although now with Berserker Ring your base attack smashes her for roughly 1500/3000 damage per Omega hit, making this fight even FASTER. Not to mention Shield Ring tends to break less easily then the Ring of Lunacy, I think there's a damage meter on these items. The fight with this particular setup won't even break 2 minutes mark with constant Explosions and the occasional Assault Bomb/ Stone Cure usage. It took me a couple of attempts to find the right skill combo and attack timing, but once you get the hang of it, she's a piece of cake. ========================================================================== IIIB. CAVE OF THE SEVEN STARS ========================================================================== This a post-game dungeon like Cave of Trials in Star Ocean: The Second Story or Maze of Tribulations in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time. To get here, you must save at the final savepoint, just before the final boss. If the save icon of this game turned to blue on your PSP, it means that the Cave of the Seven Stars has opened. To get there, from the final savepoint go all the way south and teleport to 1F of Revorse Tower. From here, go east and you'll come into a big hall. In this hall, take the south exit to the teleporter which will take you straight to the Oracle Room. Notice the music from previous VP and SO games? There will be a tablet and two people standing near it. One of them sells all the items which you could buy in shops during the game plus the items from Santa the Dealer and Silvalant City weapons and armors. Anyway, if your Oracle skill is at level 10, go to the rightmost door to get a Magic Jar. Then, if you want, you can go south from the tablet to find yourself in the Labyrinth of Champions again. You can now access the right door you couldn't open before. To actually open it, you must go to that puzzle with the seven doors. Now, instead of pulling the switches in doors 1, 3, 5 an 6, pull the switches in doors 2 and 7. Leave the 1, 3, 5 and 6 door as they are. Go back all the way to that room. Sadly, there's nothing special there except you can buy a Fanfic in this place. To get to the Cave of the Seven Stars, from the tablet in the Oracle Room, go to the left and enter the far left room. Speak with the NPC to get a little hint, save and descend the stairs. ========================================================================== Recommended Level: for B1-B10 - 60-70, for B11-B20 - 80-90, for B21-B30 - 100-110, for the boss - 120-130 Items: Ring of Might, Backstab, Star Guard, Mindhealer, Star Ruby, Gold Ring, Dragon Blade, ?Weapon, Damascus, Extinction, ?Mineral, Holy Orb, Ring of Healing, Xtra Knuckles, Star Ruby, Rainbow Diamond, Orichalcum, Kaiser Knuckles, Faerie Ring, Star Lance, Ring of Infinity, Violent Handy Stick, ?Mineral, Ring of Wisdom, Murasama, Cyuss Special, Aurora Blade, Ring of Fusion, Mithril, Smooth Crystal, Philosopher's Stone, Archangel's Bracelet, Orichalcum, Ring of Absorption Enemies: Medusa Eye, Brachyon, Conjurer Devil, Arachmene, Lady Sin, Dark Magician, Elder Witchette, Friar, Slayer, Araccola, Necromancer, Cannibal, Cloud Ogre, Garuda Eagle, Axman of Doom, Saber-Toothed Bunny, Grim Faerie, Vile Beast, Dark Stalker, Arch Phoenix, Grave Borer, Killer Wisp, Brownie, Warlock, Unholy Healer, Gargantua, Araneae Nightmare, Sand Bunny ========================================================================== Welcome to the Cave of the Seven Stars, a dungeon full of deadly enemies and the best accessories and weapons in the game! Before going here, be sure that you're AT LEAST level 65, if not, go back to Revorse Tower, and grind a bit. If you feel that my recommended level is way too high, feel free to explore the dungeon with low levels. Anyway, absolutely make sure that you collect every single weapon here, as the weapons in the Cave of the Seven Stars are the most powerful in the game. You'll need them. Make sure you buy at least one Jewel of the Frog from the Oracle Shop. Most of the floors have an identical layout, so the navigation won't be hard. B1F An NPC will give you a hint about the statues that can be moved. Save and go to B2F. B2F Get down to B3F. B3F Get down to B4F. B4F This is your first puzzle, and it's awfully easy. The tablet says: "Where the glitter of gold is too bright, it may be difficult to see the way forward." What you have to do is close all the chests in the rooms. To B5F. B5F From here, go east RING OF MIGHT, a super-accessory, then go back and south. B6F Go east and north into the two rooms for STAR GUARD and BACKSTAB skill. Then move to the west and descend the stairs. B7F Get down to B8F. B8 Get down to B9F. B9F Another puzzle. The tablet says: "Ladies first". Now you must rearrange your party, so that the ladies have to be on the left side of your roster, and guys have to be on the right. Go into Menu->Strategy->Replace and make something like this: Welch - Roddick Ilia - Ronyx Mavelle - Ashlay Millie - Ioshua Well, you got the idea. To B10F. B10F Go south and west for a MINDHEALER for your mage. Go back and east. Now go in the door and descend the stairs to B11F for STAR RUBY, GOLD RING and a DRAGON BLADE. Go back and from that door you came in, go south. This was the first part of the dungeon, and now enemies will get even more nastier and tougher. Be prepared for a tough life. B11F Get down to B12F. B12F Go east and check the two doors for ?WEAPON and DAMASCUS. Then south to the lower floor. B13F Get down to B14F. B14F The tablet says: "Remove what hinders the lovers." Turn the statues face to face, so that the male will be facing a female. To B15F. B15F This is something new. There are invisible passages on this floor. Go south through a wall and open a chest with EXTINCTION spell. From here, go west TWO screens, then west again and finally south to B16F and take ?MINERAL, HOLY ORB and XTRA KNUCKLES from the chests. Go back to B15F. Now go east, then south and south again to B16F. B16F Go east right away for a STAR RUBY. Back and south to B17F. B17F Get down to B18F. B18F Go south and west for a RAINBOW DIAMOND. Then back and east. The door here is a trap, so go south from where Kuma the Adventurer lies to B19F. B19F Another puzzle. "What one is, the next one doesn't want to be." Go to the left part of the floor, close the chest in the right room and open the chest in the left room. To B20F. B20F Talk to man, go east and south, then west for KAISER KNUCKLES. Back, and move west and south to B21F for ORICHALCUM, FAERIE RING and STAR LANCE. Go back to B20F, go west and norht for INFINITY RING. Then move south, then west through a wall and finally south to B21F. The enemies will get even tougher starting from 21st floor. BUT, they give massive amounts of EXP (up to 400000 per fight!), so feel free to level up your characters to LV 150-170 if you want. B21F Get down to B22F. B22F Get down to B23F. B23F Get down to B24F. B24F Another puzzle. The tablet says: "Release them all." This may seem too difficult, but in the end it's easy to figure out: Let's count the chests from left to right as 1, 2, 3 and 4. Close the second one, then close the 3rd one. Job done. To B25F. B25F Invisible passages again. Go south, then west, then west TWO areas. Before going south, go northeast to get VIOLENT HANDY STICK. Back and south to B26F. Here are the chests ?MINERAL, RING OF WISDOM, MURASAMA, and CYUSS SPECIAL. Back to B25F, go west three areas, then south and southwest, then west and finally south to B26F. B26F Get down to B27F. B27F Go east for AURORA BLADE, then back and south to B28F. B28F Go east and north. Those two rooms are traps, so run west to B29F. You are almost there. B29F The last puzzle. The tablet says: "It can be embarassing to be seen." Turn the statues that the male will be facing away from the female. The door to the last floor will open. B30F Heal to the max. If you're feeling you're not gonna make it, use the Jewel of the Frog, as if you'll lose, you have to start over again. Anyway, go further in the room to find: =============================== BOSS: Resphina & Bandit King x2 =============================== Resphina: Hit Points: 35300 Magic Points: 240 Bandit King: Hit Points: 117750 each Magic Points: 0 each Difficulty: Hard This may be the second hardest battle in the whole game, so be prepared. You ABSOLUTELY must kill Resphina first. Having Amulets of Flexibility or anything that prevents petrification (Sylvan Mails, Robes of Deception) is a must here, or else you'll be stoned and dead in seconds. Resphina doesn't have that much of HP, so she will go down soon. Now it's for the Bandits. If you have Omega, Wyrm King SFT's, don't be afraid to use them. It's now or never. I honestly wish you good luck in this battle. After the foes are no more, take the last 7 chests: RING OF FUSION, MITHRIL, SMOOTH CRYSTAL (this item is needed for learning Welch's "Nibelungaling" skill), ARCHANGEL'S BRACELET, PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, ORICHALCUM and RING OF ABSORPTION. Use the Jewel of the Frog to retreat from here. Congratulations! You've finished the Cave of the Seven Stars!!! ========================================================================== IIIC. SECRETS ========================================================================== ===================================== Abandoned Mine UMD/No Encounter Trick ===================================== Whenever you enter the Abandoned Mine, you can open the UMD lid of your PSP and have NO random encounters! This especially useful for those people who are low-leveled and can't stand to the monsters in here, but want to collect powerful equips and rare minerals. But, you must remember that once you change the area (i.e., before going to the next screen), you have to close the UMD lid back, or the game will freeze. =================== Uber-Leveling Trick =================== Many people know about this, but I still decided to put it here in case someone doesn't know. Ok, this trick needs at least Lv 45 party with decent weapons and armors (from the Abandoned mine or from Old Race Ruins, at least). The next thing you have to do is to level up someone's (I suggest Millie) Music Specialty to level 8. That character also has to have Listening and Rhythm Sense talents (well, Millie has). Note that you need Music at level 8, not 9 or 10. That's because the enemy on level 8 is worth 85000 EXP, level 9 enemy is worth only 60000 EXP, and level 10 enemy is uber-hard. Anyway, the melody used for summoning level 8 enemy is "The Devil's Aria" which is played on Silver Trumpet. Buy the Trumpet in Eckdart or Tropp for 300000 Fol first. Then, compose and play the melody on the world map, exit the menu and... ============ ARCH PHOENIX ============ Hit Points: 31700 Magic Points: 0 Difficulty: Normal This enemy can be hard if you're unprepared. He constantly ravages the ground, so try to spread your characters to the sides of the field. Just use Dragon Slash, Tortoise Smash and other skills in a combo, so the Phoenix won't be able to do anything. Soon he will fall. As you hit level 70, he will be even easier. This strategy requires one-two hours to reach level 100. But if you don't want to make the main game too easy, I don't recommend doing this trick at all. You should leave it as late as you can, i.e. before entering Deserted Island. =========== Millionaire =========== Ever thought of buying a tri-Emblem/Santa's Boots and wondered how to make so much money? Now I'll tell you. First of all have Millie with Alchemy level 10 (you can also use Ioshua, Erys, Ronyx and Mavelle for this) and buy Lezard Flask in Ionis for 40000 Fol. You can also use other character who don't have the Blessing of Mana talent, but you'll need to play "The Aria of the Gods" melody of Silver Trumpet while creating. Anyway, Millie with Alchemy LV 10, Lezard Flask in your invemtory and Blessing of Mana can easily make Philosopher's Stones. Philosopher's Stones sell for 390000 Fol, and using Group Appraising Super Specialty makes the sell price even higher. Just get some Irons and start creating. Using this strategy, you'll get about 10000000 Fol very quickly. ========================================================================== IV. SHOP LIST ========================================================================== KRAAT ----- Kraat General Store ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol HAUTE ----- Liza's Grocery Store Badam's Items ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Blueberries 50 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Meat 50 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Eggs and Dairy 20 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Flare Bomb 10 Fol Harmonica 800 Fol Pickaxe 1200 Fol PORTMITH -------- Ye Olde Item Shoppe Just Like Mama's ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Grains 150 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Meat 50 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Marenne Oysters 12000 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Harmonica 800 Fol Pickaxe 1200 Fol Just Like Papa's ITEM PRICE Longsword 100 Fol Saber 300 Fol Two-handed Sword 500 Fol Rod 100 Fol Brass Knuckles 200 Fol Padded Armor 300 Fol Silk Robe 200 Fol Martial Arts Outfit 1200 Fol Bikini 100 Fol Leather Helmet 80 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Leather Greaves 100 Fol Boots 50 Fol AUTANIM ------- Elle's Odds and Ends The Art of War ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Saber 300 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Claymore 1300 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Rod 100 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Hard Knuckles 800 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Padded Armor 300 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Silk Robe 200 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Martial Arts Outfit 1200 Fol Sleeping Gas 200 Fol Leather Helmet 80 Fol Mind Bomb 300 Fol Padded Helmet 600 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Amulet of Antivenin 1000 Fol Leather Greaves 100 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Iron Greaves 300 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Ruby 600 Fol Sapphire 600 Fol Crystal 2000 Fol Diamond 3000 Fol Iron 150 Fol Scrap Iron 5 Fol Decorous Foods ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Meat 50 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Eggs and Dairy 20 Fol Top Quality Tuna 9000 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Mandrake 80 Fol TATROI ------ The Fighting Merchant Ed's Hardware ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Saber 300 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Sinclair 2000 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Claymore 1300 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Rod 100 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Hard Knuckles 800 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Padded Armor 300 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Silk Robe 200 Fol Sleeping Gas 200 Fol Martial Arts Outfit 1200 Fol Mind Bomb 300 Fol Leather Helmet 80 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Padded Helmet 600 Fol Amulet of Antivenin 1000 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Leather Greaves 100 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Iron Greaves 300 fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Ruby 600 Fol Sapphire 600 Fol Pipe Organ 5000 Fol Iron 150 Fol Feast of Victory ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Meat 50 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Organic Vegetables 4000 Fol Sirloin 7200 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Mandrake 80 Fol ASTRAL CITY ----------- Esther's Knickknackles The Astral Armory ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Sinclair 2000 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Claymore 1300 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Ruby Wand 1000 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Hard Knuckles 800 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Ring Mail 600 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Kung Fu Top 3200 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Padded Armor 300 Fol Sleeping Gas 200 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Mind Bomb 300 Fol Iron Greaves 300 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Amulet of Antivenin 1000 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Ruby 600 Fol Sapphire 600 Fol Crystal 2000 Fol Diamond 3000 fol Iron 150 Fol The Desert's Gifts ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Meat 50 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Eggs and Dairy 20 Fol Geletinous Slime 100 Fol Wobbly Slime 100 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Mandrake 80 Fo TROPP ----- The Sailor's Warehouse Neptune's Trident ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Sinclair 2000 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Claymore 1300 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Ruby Wand 1000 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Hard Knuckles 800 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Ruby Orb 5000 Fol Stone Cure 100 Fol Ring Mail 600 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Kung Fu Top 3200 Fol Sleeping Gas 200 Fol Padded Helmet 600 Fol Mind Bomb 300 Fol Knight's Shield 1100 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Iron Greaves 300 Fol Amulet of Antivenin 1000 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Silver Trumpet 300000 Fol ECKDART ------- Dibson Instruments The Jewel in Her Eye ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Feather Pen 20 Fol Ruby 600 Fol Conductor Baton 100 Fol Sapphire 600 Fol Harmonica 800 Fol Green Beryl 2000 Fol Pipe Organ 5000 Fol Crystal 2000 Fol Lyre 12000 Fol Diamond 3000 Fol Cembalo 16000 Fol Silver 300 Fol Violin 50000 Fol Gold 300 Fol Piano 80000 Fol Brooch 2500 Fol Mystical Shamisen 100000 Fol Necklace 500 Fol Silver Trumpet 300000 Fol Iron 150 Fol Nectar of the Gods Oroshi the Peddler ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Root Beer 300 Fol Blueberries 50 Fol Bloody Driver 300 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Fire in the Sky 900 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Luxury Grape Juice 218000 Fol Medicine Bottle 300 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Artemis Leaf 320 Fol Wolfsbane 150 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Athelas 800 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Keen Kitchen Knife 4000 Fol IONIS ----- Creator's Workshop Weapons by Design ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Sinclair 2000 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Claymore 1300 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Ruby Wand 1000 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Hard Knuckles 800 Fol Medicine Bottle 300 Fol Brigandine 1800 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Amber Robe 800 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Kung Fu Top 3200 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Iron Helmet 1200 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Premium Paper 150 Fol Iron Greaves 300 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Kung Fu Shoes 2200 Fol Feather Pen 20 Fol Magic Camera 2000 Fol Magic Film 300 Fol Mechanic's Toolbox 1200 Fol Smith's Hammer 600 Fol Mandrake 80 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Athelas 800 Fol Ruby 600 Fol Sapphire 600 Fol Diamond 3000 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Iron 150 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Lezard Flask 40000 Fol Beret 30000 Fol Thief's Glove 10000 Fol Food for Thought ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Meat 50 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Marenne Oysters 12000 Fol Magic Rice 5000 Fol Rose Hip 230 Fol Lavender 35 Fol VAN Y ILLE CITY --------------- Victor the Cobbler Food for the Valiant ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Sandals 30 Fol Grains 150 Fol Boots 50 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Suede Boots 400 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Leather Boots 800 Fol Meat 50 Fol Martial Arts Shoes 920 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Kung Fu Shoes 2200 Fol Organic Vegetables 4000 Fol Shaolin Shoes 2200 Fol Sweet Fruit 2000 Fol Oroshi the Peddler The Mighty Battleaxe ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Sinclair 2000 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Zweihander 4000 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Taloned Knuckles 3000 Fol Medicine Bottle 300 Fol Gladius 1300 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Quarterstaff 200 Fol Artemis Leaf 320 Fol Long Bow 2000 Fol Wolfsbane 150 Fol Water Orb 8000 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Fuzzy Handy Stick 1000 Fol Athelas 800 Fol Silver Robe 3000 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Kung Fu Top 3200 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Shaolin Top 3000 Fol Magic Canvas 300 Fol Fashionable Bikini 1800 Fol Magic Clay 300 Fol Knight's Shield 1100 Fol Keen Kitchen Knife 4000 Fol Plate Greaves 1300 Fol DURSS ----- The Empty Potion Bread for the Needy ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Grains 150 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Fruit 80 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Antidote 100 Fol Meat 50 Fol Paralysis Cure 100 Fol Gelatinous Slime 100 Fol Stone cure 100 Fol Wobbly Slime 100 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Harmonica 800 Fol The Rusty Dagger ITEM PRICE Longsword 100 Fol Saber 300 Fol Two-handed Sword 500 Fol Rod 100 Fol Brass Knuckles 200 Fol Handy Stick 200 Fol Padded Armor 300 Fol Silk Robe 200 Fol Martial Arts Outfit 1200 Fol Bikini 100 Fol Leather Helmet 80 Fol Round Shield 180 Fol Leather Greaves 100 Fol Boots 50 Fol SILVALANT CITY -------------- Gifts for the Season The Icy Blade ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Blueberries 50 Fol Walloon Sword 4000 Fol Blackberries 180 Fol Flamberge 7100 Fol Aquaberries 70 Fol Baselard 2500 Fol Medicine Bottle 300 Fol Crested Rod 3000 Fol Resurrection Elixir 500 Fol Cestus 4500 Fol Artemis Leaf 320 Fol Spear 4000 Fol Lavender 35 Fol Crossbow 3000 Fol Athelas 800 Fol Crescent Orb 12000 Fol Sweet Syrup 200 Fol Playful Handy Stick 4000 Fol Witch Powder 500 Fol Plate Armor 4200 Fol Potion of Might 500 Fol Holy Cloak 10000 Fol Sleeping Gas 200 Fol Shaolin Top 3000 Fol Mind Bomb 300 Fol Fashionable Bikini 1800 Fol Flare Bomb 180 Fol Plate Helmet 2800 Fol Pet Food 10 Fol Plate Greaves 1300 Fol Spectacles 10 Fol Iron 150 Fol Keen Kitchen Knife 4000 Fol Grocery Store Santa the Dealer ITEM PRICE ITEM PRICE Grains 150 Fol Santa's Boots 4500000 Fol Fruit 80 Fol tri-Emblem 8000765 Fol Vegetables 20 Fol Music Editor 100000 Fol Meat 50 Fol Magical Rasp 100000 Fol Seafood 150 Fol Jewel of the Frog 100000 Fol Sirloin 7200 Fol Creamy Cheese 3600 Fol Ingredients of Yarma 100000 Fol ========================================================================== V. SKILL SYSTEM, SPECIALTIES AND ITEM CREATION ========================================================================== There are four basic skill "schools", or, as the game refers to them, sets of skills in Star Ocean: First Departure. They are called Knowledge, Sense, Technical and Combat skill sets. There are largely three reasons for learning skills. The first is to acquire the bonus provided by each skill. For example, learning certain skills will boost your INT. The second reason is to acquire specialties that you can learn by combining certain skills. There are over 10 of them, such as Crafting and Compounding, but it can take a lot of work to learn them all. The last reason for learning skills is to improve your combat abilities. Combat Skills (CS) will give you advantage in battle and will make some tough fights a lot easier. To acquire specialties, make sure you visit the Skill Screen and press Triangle. This will display a window indicating how close you are to acquiring various specialties. As a test, try learning a skill and see how far along you are towards acquiring a related specialty. You should see a specialty displayed: "Cooking ***". Each star indicates a different skill you need to learn before you can acquire the specialty. A filled star indicates a skill you have learned. As you will see from the Skill System, each specialty requires 1 to 3 skills to be learned. Once a specialty is displayed, you'll know exactly which skills you'll need to acquire and imrove it. The specialty level depends on the levels of the skills which are needed to learn this specialty. I.e., if you see Art Specialty is LV 2, it means that your Sketching and Aesthetics skills are at LV 2. For example, when you've just started your game, I advice you to learn the Herbology skill. This skill increases the amount of health recovered when using Blueberries and Blackberries. You also have to note that the skills you need to learn are sometimes not displayed. That means you need to visit other towns and purchase skill sets that contain the missing skills. You can only have up to 999 unused skill points at any time. Don't keep saving these points or you might end up wasting them and later in the game you'll find yourself lacking those valuable points. There is also a thing called Item Creation, a trademark of the Star Ocean series. You can create useful and even invaluable items using Crafting, Compounding, Customization, Machinist, etc. Machinist in particular lets you create items that boost your success rate in Item Creation (you may want to master this Specialty as soon as possible), while Customization lets you create powerful weapons from the ones you already have by adding different materials (such as Sapphire, Green Beryl, Orichalcum, etc.) to them. My advice is to ALWAYS save the game before starting Item Creation and reload if you fail, as you don't want to lose rare and great items so easily. ============ SKILL GUILDS ============ HAUTE ----- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 1 300 Fol (Mineralogy, Herbology, Recipe) Sense 1 400 Fol (Aesthetics, Resilience, Keen Eye, Courage) Technical 1 400 Fol (Sketching, Knife, Whistling, Imitation) Combat 1 400 Fol (Guardbreak, Power Burst, Qigong, Trance) PORTMITH -------- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 1 300 Fol (Mineralogy, Herbology, Recipe) Sense 2 1600 Fol (Determination, Danger Radar, Purity, P. Face) Technical 1 400 Fol (Sketching, Knife, Whistling, Imitation) Combat 1 400 Fol (Guardbreak, Power Burst, Qigong, Trance) AUTANIM ------- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 2 1500 Fol (Music Knowledge, Item Knowledge, Biology) Sense 2 1600 Fol (Determination, Danger Radar, Purity, P. Face) Technical 1 400 Fol (Sketching, Knife, Whistling, Imitation) Combat 1 400 Fol (Guardbreak, Power Burst, Qigong, Trance) TATROI ------ SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 2 1500 Fol (Music Knowledge, Item Knowledge, Biology) Sense 2 1600 Fol (Determination, Danger Radar, Purity, P. Face) Technical 2 1600 Fol (Eye for D., Penmanship, A. Training, Machinery) Combat 2 1600 Fol (Godspeed, Sidestep, Body Control, Recast) TROPP ----- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 2 1500 Fol (Music Knowledge, Item Knowledge, Biology) Sense 2 1600 Fol (Determination, Danger Radar, Purity, P. Face) Technical 2 1600 Fol (Eye for D., Penmanship, A. Training, Machinery) Combat 2 1600 Fol (Godspeed, Sidestep, Body Control, Recast) ECKDART ------- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 3 2700 Fol (Mental Science, Faeriology, Piety) Sense 3 2700 Fol (Effort, ESP, Aesthetic Design) Technical 3 3600 Fol (Performance, Smithing, Technology, Operation) Combat 2 1600 Fol (Godspeed, Sidestep, Body Control, Recast) IONIS ----- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 3 2700 Fol (Mental Science, Faeriology, Piety) Sense 3 2700 Fol (Effort, ESP, Aesthetic Design) Technical 3 3600 Fol (Performance, Smithing, Technology, Operation) Combat 2 1600 Fol (Godspeed, Sidestep, Body Control, Recast) VAN Y ILLE CITY --------------- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 3 2700 Fol (Mental Science, Faeriology, Piety) Sense 3 2700 Fol (Effort, ESP, Aesthetic Design) Technical 3 3600 Fol (Performance, Smithing, Technology, Operation) Combat 3 4500 Fol (Feint, Counter, Hasten Speech, Concentration) SILVALANT CITY -------------- SKILL SET PRICE Knowledge 3 2700 Fol (Mental Science, Faeriology, Piety) Sense 3 2700 Fol (Effort, ESP, Aesthetic Design) Technical 3 3600 Fol (Performance, Smithing, Technology, Operation) Combat 3 4500 Fol (Feint, Counter, Hasten Speech, Concentration) ========== SKILL LIST ========== Sketching Music Knowledge Performance Item Knowledge Mineralogy Herbology Eye for Detail Aesthetics Penmanship Effort Determination Resilience Danger Radar Biology Mental Science Knife Recipe Keen Eye Whistling Animal Training Smithing Technology Faeriology ESP Piety Purity Aesthetic Design Courage Poker Face Imitation Machinery Operation Guardbreak Backstab Counter Feint Power Burst Hasten Speech Body Control Qigong Sidestep Godspeed Trance Concentration Recast SKETCHING - The ability to exactly replicate the shape of an object on paper. MUSIC KNOWLEDGE - A general knowledge of music. Raises AGL by 1 per LV. PERFORMANCE - The ability to play instruments. Raises AGL by 1 per LV. ITEM KNOWLEDGE - Knowledge of various items. Raises sell prices by 3% per LV. MINERALOGY - Knowledge of precious metals. Raises INT by 3 per LV. HERBOLOGY - Knowledge of various herbs. Raises the restorative effects of Blueberries/Blackberries by 3% per LV. EYE FOR DETAIL - The ability to do detailed work with your hands. Raises AGL by 1 per LV. AESTHETICS - The ability to find pleasure in studying objects of beauty. PENMANSHIP - Intellectual manual labor needed for creating written works. Raises DEX by 1 per LV. EFFORT - The will to push one's self towards one's goals. Lowers EXP needed to level up. DETERMINATION - The will to meet all challenges. Lowers SP needed for each skill. RESILIENCE - The will to withstand pain and suffering. Raises CON by 2 per LV. DANGER RADAR - The ability to detect immediate danger. Raises STM by 3 per LV. MENTAL SCIENCE - Knowledge of the mind and supernatural powers. Raises MP by 5 per LV. BIOLOGY - Knowledge of all living creatures. Raises HP by LV-squared x 10. KNIFE - The ability to cut with a knife required by all aspiring chefs. Raises STR by 10 per LV. RECIPE - Knowledge of how to make food. Boosts the effects of eating a favorite dish. KEEN EYE - A keen eye for good ongredients. Raises the restorative effects of cooked dishes. WHISTLING - The ability to put your fingers in your mouth and blow hard to produce a piercing sound. ANIMAL TRAINING - The ability to train an animal to do specific tasks. SMITHING - The ability to forge metals. Raises DEX by 2 per LV. TECHNOLOGY - The ability to distill liquids and use lab equipment. Raises STR by 10 per LV. FAERIOLOGY - Knowledge of faeries and the source of life. Raises INT by 2 per LV. ESP - The ability to receive messages from an otherworldly presence. Could they be signs? PIETY - Knowledge of the gods. Raises a random ability value. PURITY - A mind that is open to the whims of the Gods of Creation. AESTHETIC DESIGN - Balancing beauty and might. Raises STR, INT, AGL and DEX by 6 per LV. COURAGE - Courage can help one keep one's nerves, even in front of a crowd. POKER FACE - The ability to act cool ander any circumstances. Raises GUTS by 3 per LV. IMITATION - The ability to correctly grasp the details of an object and make them your own. MACHINERY - Knowledge of machines. OPERATION - The ability to use machines properly. GUARDBREAK (CS) - Randomly ignores an enemy's defense when attacking. BACKSTAB (CS) - Randomly teleports character behind enemy's back. (This skill can be found ONLY in the Cave of the Seven Stars). COUNTER (CS) - Trigger a counterattack when button pressed while blocking. FEINT (CS) - Randomly guarantees attack to land, regardless of hit accuracy. POWER BURST (CS) - Randomly boosts attack power. HASTEN SPPECH (CS) - Cuts casting time for spells. BODY CONTROL (CS) - Reduces daze time. SIDESTEP (CS) Randomly evades enemy attacks. GODSPEED (CS) - Increases movement speed with each level. Randomly teleports character into attack position. QIGONG (CS) - Randomly boosts defense. TRANCE (CS) - Randomly increases spell damage. CONCENTRATION (CS) - Randomly prevents incantation to be interrupted by enemy attacks. RECAST (CS) - Cuts waiting time between spells. ============== SPECIALTY LIST ============== !!!!!To be learned, Specialties first need some certain skills to be bought and learned. For example, if you want to learn Survival Specialty, at first you must buy (and learn) Herbology and Resilience skills.!!!!! SPECIALTY SKILLS NEEDED TO LEARN Art ** Sketching, Aesthetics Oracle *** ESP, Piety, Purity Music ** Performance, Music Knowledge Customization *** Eye for Detail, Smithing, Aesthetic Design Appraising *** Item Knowledge, Mineralogy, Herbology Crafting *** Mineralogy, Eye for Detail, Aesthetics Writing * Penmanship Train *** Effort, Determination, Resilience Scouting * Danger Radar Compounding *** Biology, Herbology, Mental Science Cooking *** Knife, Recipe, Keen Eye Familiar ** Whistling, Animal Training Alchemy *** Technology, Mineralogy, Faeriology Survival ** Herbology, Resilience Pickpocketing ** Courage, Poker Face Replication * Imitation Machinist ** Machinery, Operation And now, a detailed explanation a what each specialty does: =================== ART (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to breath life into paintings and sculptures created by yourself. Via Art, you create battle cards and such. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Graphic Tool (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START CREATING: Magic Canvas, Magic Clay ====== ORACLE - The special ability to pick up useful (or not) messages from the Tria, the Gods of Creation. A joke specialty where you get messages from tri-Ace developers. You'll only need it at the end of the game to use it in the Oracle Room. Be sure that this specialty is LV 10. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO GET MESSAGES: N/A ===== MUSIC - The special ability to write music and play instruments. This ability is very useful. If you wanna know why, check the UBER-LEVELING TRICK section and the section about Gabriella. It also helps you in other various situations. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Music Editor (Buy in Silvalant City) ITEM NEEDED TO START COMPOSING: Fountain Pen ITEM NEEDED TO START PERFORMING: Conductor Baton (Buy in Eckdart) There are a total of 8 different instruments in the game, and all of them can be used for different purposes. Each instrument has two songs to play: PIANO Salvation Hymn - While the music plays, walking recovers HP and MP. Celebration Hymn - While the music plays, all attributes are increased CEMBALO Spirit Dance - While the music plays, hit accuracy is increased. Faerie Dance - While the music plays, agility is increased. SHAMISEN A Pale Breeze - While the music plays, movement rate is increased. A Hidden Power - While the music plays, max HP and MP are increased. TRUMPET The Devil's Aria - Returning to the world map after the performance triggers a battle with specific monsters. Aria of the Gods - While the music plays, anyone can perform any specialty, even without the requisite talents. Battle Blues - While the music plays, battles occur more frequently. Lonely Blues - While the music plays, battles occur less frequently. LYRE Song for Justice - While the music plays, attack power is increased. The Eternal Song - While the music plays, defense is increased. VIOLIN Hero's Arrival - Returning to the world map after the performance triggers a battle with specific monsters. Goddess' Arrival - While the music plays, success rate are increased for performing specialties. ORGAN A Healing Tune - While the music plays, walking restores HP. A Relaxing Tune - While the music plays, walking restores MP. ============================= CUSTOMIZATION (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to modify one's weapons into something new and improved. This is the ability which you'll want to master first. Use it to make super weapons from synthesizing them with various minerals. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Magical Rasp (Buy in Silvalant City) ITEM NEEDED TO START CUSTOMIZING: N/A ========================== APPRAISING (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to identify items with names that begin with a question mark. Useful specialty. Whenever you an item with ? (for example, ?Mineral), appraise it and see what you'll get. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Element Analyzer (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START APPRAISING: Spectacles (Buy in any town) ======================== CRAFTING (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to craft gems and precious metals into original accessories. You'll need this specialty, believe me. You can make great accessories from the minerals, such as Berserker Ring, Regeneration Ring, Ring of Might, Earring of Frenzy and such. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Soldering Iron (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START CRAFRING: N/A CRAFTING BY CHARACTER: 1. Roddick Iron: Weighty ring, Hefty Ring, Amulet of Antivenin, Hefty Earring Silver: Silver Barette, Silver Ring, Silver Charm, Silver Cross Gold: Gold Cross, Gold Bracelet, Gold Brooch Sapphire: Purple Amulet, Anklet Ruby: Berserker Ring Crystal: Ring of Resistance, Prism ring, Ring of Fusion Green Beryl: Chain of Might, Bracelet of Gambling, Faerie Ring Diamond: Earring of Readiness, Sacrificial Doll, earring of Magnetism Star Ruby: Ruby Pendant, Necklace, Shield Ring Rainbow Diamond: Breeze Earring, Regeneration Ring, Dream Bracelet, Ring of Might Moonrock: Lunar Talisman, Ring of Insanity, Earring of Frenzy, Moonlight Philosopher’s Stone: Mallet Charm, Ring of Wisdom, Ring of Mental Power, Hammer Charm 2. Millie Iron: Amulet of Freedom, Weird Doll, Onyx Earring Silver: Silver Pendant, Silver Idol, Silver Earring, Silver Amulet, Silver Ring Gold: Storm Ring, Gold Earring, Gold Brooch, Gold Ring, Gold Idol Sapphire: Aqua Ring, Foot Insignia, Blue Talisman, Angelic Headband Ruby: Flare Ring, Shield Earring, Blood Earring Crystal: Holy Ring, Princess Ring, Glass Slippers Green Beryl: Green Bracelet, Crown, Emerald Earring, Emerald Ring Diamond: Earring of the Winds, Lavish Idol, Ring of Trust Star Ruby: Star Necklace, Stardust Ring, Star Earring, Ring of Absorption Rainbow Diamond: Ring of Healing, Shadow Cross, Magic Cross, Mystic Amulet Moonrock: Lunar Charm, Ring of Lunacy, Moon Earring Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Avoidance, Ring of Infinity, Mist Insignia, Mind ring 3. Ilia Iron: Hefty Earring, Hefty Ring Silver: Silver Cross, Silver Barette, Silver Ring, Silver Charm Gold: Storm Ring, Golden Brooch, Gold Idol Sapphire: Foot Insignia, Anklet, Angelic Headband Ruby: Berserker Ring Crystal: Ring of Fusion, Ring of Resistance Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Chain of Might, Crown, Green Bracelet Diamond: Earring of Magnetism, Ring of Trust, Earring of Readiness Star Ruby: Necklace, Ring of Absorption, Ruby Pendant, Shield Ring Rainbow Diamond: Shadow Cross, Regeneration Ring, Ring of Might, Breeze Earring, Dream Bracelet Moonrock: Earring of Frenzy, Moonlight, Ring of the Accursed, Ring of Insanity, Lunar Talisman Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Mental Power, Ring of Wisdom, Mallet Charm, Hammer Charm 4.Ronyx Iron: Hefty Ring, Onyx Earring, Weird Doll Silver: Silver Amulet, Silver Pendant, silver Earring, Silver Barette, Silver Idol Gold: Gold Ring, Golden Brooch, Storm Ring Sapphire: Blue Talisman, Aqua Ring, foot Insignia Ruby: Ricochet Bracelet, Fire Ring Crystal: Ring of Fusion, Intimidation Pendant, Holy Ring, Ring of Resistance Green Beryl: Crown, Emerald Ring, Emerald Earring, Talisman Diamond: Earring of Readiness, Earring of the Winds, Thunder Ring, Ring of Trust Star Ruby: Stardust Ring, Star Earring, Star Necklace, Ring of Absorption Rainbow Diamond: Mystic Amulet, Magic Cross, Shadow Cross Moonrock: Lunar Charm, Ring of the Accursed Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Avoidance, Mist Insignia, Mind Ring, Ring of Mental Power 5. Phia Iron: Hefty Earring, Onyx Earring Silver: Silver Idol, Silver Barette, Silver Charm Gold: Golden Brooch, Storm Ring, Gold Cross, Gold Bracelet Sapphire: Purple Amulet, Anklet, Angelic Headband Ruby: Shield Earring, Blood Earring Crystal: Froghead, Ring of Fusion, Ring of Resistance, Prism Ring, Glass Slippers Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Emerald Earring, Bracelet of Gambling, Chain of Might, Green Bracelet Diamond: Glittering Earring, Earring of Readiness, Earring of Magnetism, Sacrificial Doll Star Ruby: Ring of Absorption, Necklace, Shield Ring, Ruby Pendant Rainbow Diamond: Ring of Might, Mystic Amulet, Dream Bracelet, Regeneration Ring, Breeze Earring Moonrock: Lunar Talisman, Ring of the Accursed, Ring of Insanity, Earring of Frenzy, Moonlight Philosopher’s Stone: Hammer Charm, Mallet Charm, Ring of Mental Power, Ring of Wisdom 6. Pericci Iron: Hefty Earring, Onyx Earring, Hefty Ring Silver: Silver ring, Silver Idol, Silver Charm, Silver Barette, Silver Cross Gold: Gold Idol, Golden Brooch, Storm Ring Sapphire: Anklet, Angelic Headband, Purple Amulet, Aqua Ring Ruby: Shield Earring, Ruby Earring Crystal: Ring of Fusion, Froghead, Ring of Resistance, Prism Ring, Glass Slippers Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Chain of Might, Green Bracelet, Emerald Earring Diamond: Sacrificial Doll, Earring of Magnetism Star Ruby: Necklace, Shield Ring Rainbow Diamond: Ring of Might, Regeneration Ring, Breeze Earring Moonrock: Earring of Frenzy, Lunar Talisman, Ring of the Accursed, Ring of Insanity Philosopher’s Stone: Hammer Charm, Mallet Charm 7. Cyuss Iron: Amulet of Flexibility, Amulet of Antivenin, Amulet of Freedom Silver: Silver Cross, Silver Barette, Silver Ring, Silver Charm Gold: Gold Crown, Gold Cross, Gold Bracelet Sapphire: Blue Talisman, Purple Amulet, Anklet, Aqua Ring Ruby: Ruby Earring, Flare Ring, Berserker Ring Crystal: Prism Ring, Ring of Resistance, Intimidation Pendant, Ring of Fusion Green Beryl: Talisman, Chain of Might Diamond: Earring of Magnetism, Sacrificial Doll Star Ruby: Necklace, Shield Ring Rainbow Diamond: Regeneration Ring, Ring of Might, Breeze Earring Moonrock: Ring of the Accursed, Ring of Insanity, Lunar Talisman Philosopher’s Stone: Hammer Charm, Mallet charm 8. T’Nique Iron: Amulet of Flexibility, Hefty Ring, Hefty Earring Silver: Silver Ring, Silver Charm, Silver Cross, Silver Pendant Gold: Gold Bracelet, Gold Cross, Storm Ring Sapphire: Aqua Ring, Anklet, Foot Insignia Ruby: Berserker Ring, Flare Ring Crystal: Ring of Fusion, Froghead, Ring of Resistance Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Chain of Might, Crown, Emerald Ring Diamond: Sacrificial Doll, Thunder Ring, Earring of Readiness, Earring of Magnetism Star Ruby: Ring of Absorption, Star Earring, Shield Ring, Necklace, Ruby Pendant Rainbow Diamond: Breeze Earring, Dream Bracelet, Regeneration Ring, Ring of Might Moonrock: Ring of insanity, Ring of the Accursed, Lunar Talisman, Moonlight, Earring of Frenzy Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Mental Power, Mallet Charm, Hammer Charm, Ring of Wisdom 9. Ioshua Iron: Amulet of Freedom, Weird Doll, Amulet of Antivenin, Onyx Earring Silver: Silver Idol, Silver Earring, Silver Amulet, Silver Pendant Gold: Gold Ring, Gold Earring, Storm Ring, Gold Idol Sapphire: Water Ring, Aqua Ring, Blue Talisman, Foot Insignia Ruby: Berserker Ring, Shield Earring, Blood Earring, Flare Ring Crystal: Froghead, Ring of Fusion, Holy Ring, Princess Ring, Ring of Resistance Green Beryl: Green Bracelet, Crown, Emerald Ring, Emerald Earring Diamond: Ring of Trust, Earring of the Winds, Sacrificial Doll, Lavish Idol Star Ruby: Ring of Absorption, Star Earring, Ruby Pendant, Star Necklace Rainbow Diamond: Ring of Healing, Magic Cross, Dream Bracelet, Mystic Amulet Moonrock: Lunar Charm, Lunar Talisman, Ring of Lunacy Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Infinity, Ring of Avoidance, Mind Ring, Ring of Mental Power, Mist Insignia 10. Mavelle Iron: Weird Doll, Amulet of Flexibility, Onyx Earring, Amulet of Freedom, Amulet of Antivenin Silver: Silver Charm, Silver Idol, Silver Earring, Silver Amulet, Silver Pendant Gold: Storm Ring, Gold Idol, Gold Ring, Gold Earring, Golden Brooch Sapphire: Aqua Ring, Blue Talisman, Angelic Headband, Foot Insignia Ruby: Flare Ring, Blood Earring Crystal: Princess Ring, Glass Slippers, Holy Ring, Froghead, Ring of Fusion Green Beryl: Talisman, Emerald Earring, Emerald Ring, Crown Diamond: Thunder Ring, Ring of Trust, Earring of Readiness, Lavish Idol, Earring of the Winds Star Ruby: Star Necklace, Stardust Ring, Ring of Absorption, Star Earring Rainbow Diamond: Breeze Earring, Regeneration Ring, Mystic Amulet, Dream Bracelet Moonrock: Ring of Lunacy, Lunar Talisman, Lunar Charm, Moonlight Philosopher’s Stone: Mist Insignia, Mind Ring, Ring of Infinity, Ring of Mental Power, Ring of Avoidance 11. Ashlay Iron: Hefty Ring, Hefty Earring, Amulet of Freedom Silver: Silver Cross, Silver Barette, Silver Charm, Silver Ring Gold: Gold Earring, Gold Cross, Gold Bracelet, Storm Ring Sapphire: Purple Amulet, Blue Talisman, Anklet Ruby: Berserker Ring, Flare Ring Crystal: Ring of Resistance, Holy Ring, Ring of Fusion Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Chain of Might, Bracelet of Gambling, Emerald Ring Diamond: Earring of Magnetism, Earring of Readiness, Earring of the Winds, Sacrificial Doll Star Ruby: Stardust Ring, Shield Ring, Necklace Rainbow Diamond: Breeze Earring, Regeneration Ring, Dream Bracelet, Mystic Amulet, Ring of Might Moonrock: Ring of the Accursed, Lunar Talisman, Earring of Frenzy, Ring of Infinity Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Mental Power, Ring of Wisdom 12. Welch Iron: Hefty Ring, Amulet of Flexibility, Weighty Ring, Onyx Earring, Amulet of Freedom Silver: Silver Idol, Silver Pendant, Silver Amulet, Silver Earring Gold: Gold Ring, Gold Earring, Golden Brooch, Gold Idol Sapphire: Aqua Ring, Anklet, Blue Talisman, Foot Insignia, Purple Amulet Ruby: Blood Earring, Berserker Ring, Flare Ring Crystal: Princess Ring, Glass Slippers, Holy Ring, Froghead Green Beryl: Faerie Ring, Chain of Might Diamond: Lavish Idol, Ring of Trust, Earring of the Winds Star Ruby: Star Necklace, Stardust Ring, Necklace, Ring of Absorption, Star Earring Rainbow Diamond: Mystic Amulet, Regeneration Ring, Dream Bracelet, Magic Cross, Breeze Earring Moonrock: Ring of Lunacy, Earring of Frenzy, Moonlight, Lunar Talisman, Lunar Charm Philosopher’s Stone: Mind Ring, Ring of Infinity, Ring of Avoidance, Ring of Mental Power 13. Erys Iron: Amulet of Flexibility, Weird Doll, Amulet of Freedom, Amulet of Antivenin, Onyx Earring Silver: Silver Pendant, Silver Charm, Silver Amulet, Silver Idol, Silver Earring Gold: Gold Idol, Golden Brooch, Gold Earring, Gold Ring, Storm Ring Sapphire: Aqua Ring, Foot Insignia, Blue Talisman, Angelic Headband Ruby: Flare Ring, Blood Earring Crystal: Glass Slippers, Holy Ring, Princess Ring, Froghead, Ring of Fusion Green Beryl: Emerald Ring, Crown, Talisman, Emerald Earring Diamond: Earring of the Winds, Lavish Idol, Ring of Trust, Earring of Readiness Star Ruby: Star Necklace, Stardust Ring, Ring of Absorption, Star Earring Rainbow Diamond: Breeze Earring, Dream Bracelet, Mystic Amulet, Regeneration Ring, Magic Cross Moonrock: Lunar Charm, Moonlight, Lunar Talisman, Ring of Lunacy Philosopher’s Stone: Ring of Mental Power, Ring of Avoidance, Mist Insignia, Mind Ring, Ring of Infinity ======================= WRITING (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to pen books in skills you have learned that raise the reader's skill level. With this specialty, you can teach the skills one character had learned to other character. Not very useful, but it helps sometimes. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Word Processor (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START WRIRING: Fountain Pen (Buy in Eckdart, Tropp) ===== TRAIN - The special ability to lower one's attributes in return for gaining more EXP in battle. Quite a good specialty, especially if you want to level up faster. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START TRAINING: N/A ======== SCOUTING - The special ability to raise or lower the frequency of battles at will. This specialty is not very needed as it sometimes doesn't affect the battles frequncy at all, no matter how much times you use it. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START SCOUTING: N/A =========================== COMPOUNDING (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to compound two herbs to create medicine. This specialty will let you make useful healing herbs, which will aid you when you'll run out of items. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Steril Glove (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START COMPOUNDING: N/A ======================= COOKING (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to process raw ingredients into food. This specialty will let you cook supporting dishes, although IMO Master Chef is better. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Keen Kitchen Knife ITEM NEEDED TO START COOKING: N/A ======== FAMILIAR - The special ability to train an animal to leave dungeons and other places to go shopping. This is a must, if you're constantly running out of items for healing. Just send a bird and it will bring the shop to you, and you won't even have to exit the dungeon! ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START SENDING A BIRD: N/A ======================= ALCHEMY (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to turn iron into gems and other precious metals. One of the most valuable specialties. You can make Orichalcums, Mithrils, Moonrock and even Philosopher's Stones with it. These metals will then help you make powerful weapons, armors and accesories. So, literally, Alchemy is the fundament of making equipment in SO: FD. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Triangle Flask (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START CREATING MINERALS: Iron ======================== SURVIVAL (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to forage an area of the world map for useful items. Costs 4MP per attempt. Survival is almost the same as Cooking. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Survival Set (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START "SURVIVING": Only MP =========================== REPLICATION (ITEM CREATION) - The special abilities to create an exact replica of an item. replication is good, because you can duplicate diffent using it. Too bad some REALLY good items like Philosopher's Stones can't be duplicated. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: RIRICA (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START REPLICATING: Magic Camera ========================= MACHINERY (ITEM CREATION) - The special ability to create a variety of useful machinery for an adventurer. Quite a good specialty. Let's just say that it lets you make items which increase success rate for almost all other kinds of specialties. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START WORKING ON MACHINERY: Mechanic's Toolbox (Buy in Ionis) ==================== SUPER SPECIALTY LIST ==================== !!!!!To be learned, Super Specialties (SS) first need some certain specialties to be learned to an average level by the members of your party. For example, if you want to learn Orchestra Super Specialty, a couple of your characters must first learn Music and Art Specialties!!!!! SUPER SPECIALTIES SPECIALTIES NEEDED TO LEARN Master Chef Cooking, Compounding Orchestra Music, Art Enlightenment Train, Survival Publication Writing Technology Group Appraising Appraising , Crafting Blacksmith Customization, Alchemy Contraband Pickpocketing, Replication =========== MASTER CHEF - An SS where everyone works together to cook up luxurious food and drinks. Via this SS, you can make very good dishes which will restore your HP/MP. Especially good when you're in Seven Star Ruins. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Keen Kitchen Knife (Buy in Silvalant City). ITEM NEEDED TO START COOKING: N/A Items created via Master Chef: Seafood + Seafood = Deluxe Sushi Seafood + Grains = Umai-bo Candy 7 Seafood + Vegetables = Fish Ball Soup Seafood + Fruit = Sauteed Sweet Bean Seafood + Meat = Kimchi Hot Pot Seafood + Eggs & Dairy = Seafood Gratin Grains + Grains = Umai-bo Candy 10 Grains + Vegetables = Saucy Rice Grains + Fruit = Umai-bo Candy 12 Grains + Meat = Umai-bo Candy 9 Grains + Eggs & Dairy = Chicken and Egg Bowl Vegetables + Vegetables = Umai-bo Candy 6 Vegetables + Fruit = Tomato Salad Vegetables + Meat = Mutton BBQ Vegetables + Eggs & Dairy = Cheese Salad Fruit + Fruit = Umai-bo Candy 14 Fruit + Meat = Umai-bo Candy 8 Fruit + Eggs & Dairy = Mixed Fruit Juice Meat + Meat = Mixed Meat Hamburg Meat + Eggs & Dairy = Beef and Egg Bowl Eggs & Dairy + Eggs & Dairy = Umai-bo Candy 11 ========= ORCHESTRA - An SS where everyone plays their instruments together in an orchestral performance led by a conductor's bacon. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START PERFORMING: Conductor Baton (Buy in Eckdart) ============= ENLIGHTENMENT - An SS where everyone makes a few sacrifices to earn more skill points per level. A good SS, especially in the beginning of the game. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO PRACTICE: N/A =========== PUBLICATION - An SS where everyone contributes to an amazing book that they can all be proud about publishing. I don't really understand the point of this one. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Word Processor (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START PUBLICATING: Fountain Pen ================ GROUP APPRAISING - An SS where everyone works together to determine the correct value of an object. Very valuable SS which will help to lower prices in shops. Use it whenever you buy expensive items. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO START GROUP APPRAISING: Spectacles (Buy in any town) ========== BLACKSMITH - An SS where everyone works together to craft armor from various precious metals. No comments. Making powerful armors via Blacksmithing is the only way to go, if you're going for Gabriella or Seven Star Ruins. ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: Magical Rasp (Create via Machinery) ITEM NEEDED TO START CREATING: Smith's Hammer (Buy in Ionis) This is the list of armors/helms/shields/greaves you can make from various minerals: Iron: Kitty Hairband, Ankh Shield Orichalcum: Reflecting Plate, Dream Crown Damascus: Magic Bikini, Dueling Helmet Moonrock: Kitty Armor, Battle Suit Mithril: Mithril Mesh, Mithril Shield Meteorite: Sylvan Mail, Sylvan Boots, Sylvan Helmet Rune Metal: Cloak of the Stars ========== CONTRABAND - An SS where everyone conspires to create items that aren't quite legit. Will crime pay in the end? Contraband lets you make some good cards which are used in battle, but most of the time it's the infamous Bounced Checks that keep eating your Fol like Crazy. BTW, if youhave a Bounced Check in your inventory, sell it as fast you can! ITEM WHICH INCREASES SUCCESS RATE: N/A ITEM NEEDED TO CONTRABAND: Premium Paper ============ TALENTS LIST ============ Talents are additional "specialties" which give you 100 SP bonus when you learn them. You can acquire the talent with practice. By repeatedly performing a certain specialty, you may eventually acquire the necessary talent. They also improve your success rate in item creation type which is related to the learned talent. For example, learning Design Sense boosts your success rate in Art. Each character has starting talents and secret talents which have to be learned. The maximum amount of talents one character can have is 10. TALENT NAME LEARNED WHEN USING CHARACTERS WHO CAN LEARN Blessing of Mana Alchemy Millie, Ioshua, Erys, Ronyx, Mavelle Design Sense Art Everyone except Ashlay Taste Cooking Everyone except Ronyx Originality Customization Everyone except Ioshua, Erys, Ilia Love of Animals Familiar Everyone except Ioshua, Erys, Ronyx Rhythm Sense Music Everyone Animal Instinct Scout Everyone except Ronyx, Ilia Composition Writing Everyone Nimble Fingers Crafting Everyone except Cyuss, Ashlay Listening Music Everyone except Roddick ========================================================================= VI. SPECIAL ARTS/SYMBOLOGY ========================================================================= In this section I will list the characters skills. First it is the close- combat characters, i.e. Roddick, Ilia, Welch, T'Nique, Cyuss, Phia, Ashlay, Pericci and Mavelle. Then I will list the symbology users - Erys, Ronyx, Millie and Ioshua. !!!!!There is a total of seven SFTs (Secret Fighting Techniques) in the game, and this list shows you how and where can they be obtained!!!!! List of SFTs: =============== Four Beasts SFT =============== Gotten from the King of Van after starting the emblem quest ========= Omega SFT ========= Obtained after completing Rank C in the Arena (Tatroi) with any character who is able to use SFTs, i.e. Roddick, Ilia, etc. ============= Wyrm King SFT ============= Ashlay gives it to you during the PA in Silvalant City (immediately go there after obtaining the 2 Force Swords) after the PA in Van y Ille City (high AR with Ashlay is needed). ========= Bagua SFT ========= Obtained from the chest in Muah Treasury during the emblem quest. =============== Divine Fury SFT =============== Found in a treasure chest after defeating the boss of the Old Race Ruins. ========== Feline SFT ========== Obtained from the chest in Muah Treasury during the emblem quest. ============== God of War SFT ============== This SFT is on Phia only, if she joins in the Astral Castle when you have six or less party members. And now, on to the skills. ============= BATTLE SKILLS ============= ========== 1. Roddick ========== Shockwave Swirl MP: 3 Level: 3 Firestorm Blade MP: 5 Level: 7 Lightray Blade MP: 5 Level: 11 Thunderclap Blade MP: 5 Level: 13 Air Slash MP: 8 Level: 17 Double Slash MP: 13 Level: 19 Spirit Strike MP: 10 Level: 25 Dragon Roar MP: 15 Level: 29 Omega Thunderclap Blade MP: 25 Obtained from: Thunderclap Blade + Omega SFT Omega Lightray Blade MP: 25 Obtained from: Lightray Blade + Omega SFT Omega Double Slash MP: 27 Obtained from: Double Slash + Omega SFT Dragon Slash MP: 25 Obtained from: Spirit Strike + Four Beasts SFT Phoenix Blast MP: 32 Obtained from: Shockwave Swirl + Four Beasts SFT Blackwyrm Thundersurge MP: 55 Obtained from: Dragon Roar + Wyrm King SFT Bluewyrm Thundersurge MP: 55 Obtained from: Dragon Slash + Wyrm King SFT Redwyrm Thundersurge MP: 55 Obtained from: Phoenix Blast + Wyrm King SFT ======= 2. Ilia ======= Palm of Destruction MP: 4 Level: 9 Meteor Palm MP: 6 Level: 13 Explosive Kick MP: 6 Level: 17 Avenging Fist MP: 6 Level: 25 Bluewyrm Strike MP: 16 Obtained from: Palm of Destruction + Four Beasts SFT Tiger Claw MP: 18 Obtained from: Avenging Fist + Four Beasts SFT Tortoise Smash MP: 16 Obtained from: Explosive Kick + Four Beasts SFT Phoenix Blast MP: 22 Obtained from: Meteor Palm + Four Beasts SFT Divine Strike MP: 50 Obtained from: Any Four Beasts skill + Bagua SFT Divine Wrath MP: 50 Obtained from: Divine Strike + Divine Fury SFT ======== 3. Welch ======== Slap MP: 6 Level: Default Flick MP: 6 Level: Default Left Hand Rule MP: 10 Level: Default Spinning Finger MP: 10 Level: Default Distraction MP: 12 Level: Default Iron Fist MP: 16 Level: Default Mithril Fist MP: 28 Obtained from: Iron Fist + Omega SFT Rapid Flick MP: 28 Obtained from: Flick + Omega SFT Slappity Slap MP: 28 Obtained from: Slap + Omega SFT Nibelungaling MP: 55 Obtained from: Smooth Crystal (Cave of the Seven Stars) ========== 4. T'Nique ========== Tornado Strike MP: 5 Level: Default Gale Strike MP: 6 Level: Default Hurricane Strike MP: 17 Level: Default Flame Tornado MP: 19 Obtained from: Tornado Strike + Bagua SFT Gale Hurricane MP: 19 Obtained from: Gale Strike + Bagua SFT Divine Strike MP: 50 Obtained from: Hurricane Strike + Bagua SFT Omega Strike MP: 60 Obtained from: Divine Strike + Omega SFT ======== 5. Cyuss ======== Shockwave Swirl MP: 3 Level: Default Spirit Blast MP: 4 Level: 13 Double Slash MP: 8 Level: 17 Thunderclap Blade MP: 5 Level: 21 Firestorm Blade MP: 6 Level: 27 Lightray Blade MP: 10 Level: 31 Omega Firestorm Blade MP: 17 Obtained from: Firestorm Blade + Omega SFT Omega Thunderclap MP: 22 Obtained from: Thunderclap Blade + Omega SFT Omega Double Slash MP: 24 Obtained from: Double Slash + Omega SFT Dragon Surge MP: 35 Obtained from: Lightray Blade + Four Beasts SFT Tortoise Surge MP: 27 Obtained from: Spirit Blast + Four Beasts SFT Tiger Surge MP: 27 Obtained from: Shockwave Swirl + Four Beasts SFT ======= 6. Phia ======= Raven Sword MP: 5 Level: Default Dnacing Sword MP: 5 Level: Default Three Way MP: 12 Level: 21 Three Volley MP: 12 Level: 29 Aqua Spread MP: 12 Level: 31 Galaxy SB MP: 18 Level: 37 Sylvan Shot MP: 20 Obtained from: Three Way + God of War SFT Unholy Terror MP: 32 Obtained from: Galaxy SB + God of War SFT Victory Terror MP: 32 Obtained from: Unholy Terror + God of War SFT ========= 7. Ashlay ========= Double Slash MP: 5 Level: Default Shockwave Swirl MP: 6 Level: Default Thunderclap Blade MP: 5 Level: Default Firestorm Blade MP: 6 Level: Default Lightray Blade MP: 10 Level: Default Dragon Slash Obtained from: Spirit Strike + Four Beasts SFT Phoenix Blast Obtained from: Shockwave Swirl + Four Beasts SFT Omega Thunderclap Blade MP: 22 Obtained from: Thunderclap Blade + Omega SFT Omega Double Slash MP: 24 Obtained from: Double Slash + Omega SFT ========== 8. Pericci ========== Multiple Punch MP: 6 Level: Default Power Dance MP: 10 Level: Default Panther Charge MP: 12 Level: Default Air Kisses MP: 12 Level: Default Healing Dance MP: 16 Level: Default Spread Missile MP: 10 Level: Default Roundhouse MP: 12 Level: Default Panic Dance MP: 12 Level: Default Cutie in the Sky MP: 10 Level: Default Dream Hammer MP: 24 Obtained from: Panther Attack + Feline SFT JC Summersault MP: 24 Obtained from: Roundhouse + Feline SFT Magical Dance MP: 60 Obtained from: Power Dance + Feline SFT ========== 9. Mavelle ========== Raven Orb MP: 5 Level: Default Flare Orb MP: 12 Level: Default Hail Orb MP: 12 Level: Default Thunder Orb MP: 12 Level: Default Arc Crystal MP: 12 Level: 33 Seal Crystal MP: 12 Level: 37 Death Crystal MP: 24 Level: 39 Southern Cross MP: 28 Obtained from: Flare Orb + Omega SFT Seventh Star MP: 40 Obtained from: Hail Orb + Omega SFT Galaxy MP: 50 Obtained from: Thunder Orb + Omega SFT ======== 10. Erys ======== Heal MP: 4 Level: Default Fire Bolt MP: 2 Level: Default Deep Mist MP: 12 Level: Default Silence MP: 14 Level: Default Cure Light MP: 16 Level: Default Acid Rain MP: 8 Level: Default Star Light MP: 6 Level: Default Eruption MP: 16 Level: Default Delay MP: 18 Level: Default Cure All MP: 24 Level: Cure Condition MP: 24 Level: Explode MP: 48 Level: Luna Light MP: 28 Level: Fairy Heal MP: 28 Level: Default Raise Dead MP: 44 Level: Default Southern Cross MP: 40 Level: Default Fix Cloud MP: 12 Level: Default Fairie Light MP: 44 Level: 52 Meteor Swarm MP: 70 Level: N/A, found in Revorse Tower 2F Extinction MP: 60 Where: N/A, found in Cave of the Seven Stars B15F ========== 11. Millie ========== Heal MP: 4 Level: Default Antidote MP: 6 Level: 2 Deep Mist MP: 12 Level: 6 Crush MP: 2 Level: 6 Cure Light MP: 16 Level: 10 Silence MP: 14 Level: 10 Acid Rain MP: 8 Guard MP: 18 Delay MP: 18 Cure All MP: 24 Cure Condition MP: 24 Gravity Crush MP: 11 Haste MP: 20 Level: 34 Power Up MP: 22 Level: 38 Tractor Beam MP: 34 Level: 40 Fix Cloud MP: 12 Level: 40 Fairie Healing MP: 28 Level: 42 Reflection MP: 40 Level: 44 Raise Dead MP: 44 Level: 46 Fairie Light MP: 44 Level: 52 ========= 12. Ronyx ========= Glaive MP: 2 Level: Default Fire Bolt MP: 2 Level: Default Thunder Bolt MP: 2 Level: Default Wounds MP: 2 Level: Default Shadow Bolt MP: 5 Level: Default Laser Beams MP: 4 Level: Default Black Saber MP: 10 Level: Default Eruption MP: 16 Level: Default Crushing Earth MP: 12 Level: Default Thunder Storm MP: 14 Level: Default Light Cross MP: 10 Level: Default Thunder Cloud MP: 24 Level: 34 Star Flare MP: 26 Level: 36 Shadow Flare MP: 31 Level: 38 Stone Rain MP: 46 Level: 46 Explode MP: 48 Level: 48 Dark Sphere MP: 64 Level: 48 Ravenous Fiend MP: 19 Level: N/A, obtained in Space Time Laboratory Demon's Gate MP: 37 Level: N/A, obtained in Revorse Tower 1F Meteor Swarm MP: 70 Level: N/A, obtained in Revorse Tower 2F ========== 13. Ioshua ========== Heal MP: 4 Level: Default Glaive MP: 2 Level: Default Thunder Bolt MP: 2 Level: Default Wind Blade MP: 2 Level: Default Ice Needles MP: 2 Level: Default Cure Light MP: 16 Level: Default Laser Beams MP: 4 Level: Default Deep Freeze MP: 8 Level: Default Cure All MP: 24 Level: Default Magnum Tornado MP: 8 Level: Default Light Cross MP: 10 Level: 24 Crushing Earth MP: 12 Level: 26 Thunder Storm MP: 14 Level: 28 Fohn Wind MP: 18 Level: 30 Thunder Cloud MP: 24 Level: 34 Star Flare MP: 26 Level: 36 Noah MP: 30 Level: 38 Fairie Healing MP: 28 Level: 42 Stone Rain MP: 46 Level: 46 Extinction MP: 60 Level: N/A, obtained in Cave of the Seven Stars B15F ========================================================================= VII. RECRUITMENT GUIDE ========================================================================= There is a total of 11 original playable characters from the SFC version of SO, and two completely new - it's Welch Vineyard from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Erys Jerand. There are four characters which are considered mandatory - Roddick, Millie, Ronyx and Ilia. It means you can't dismiss them. The other 9 are optional and require some certain circumstances to enter your party. !!!!!I highly recommend you to read this before doing any recruiting in order no to get frustrated and lose characters you wanted to have!!!!! Cyuss Warren - you can pick him up after the second visit to Haute. The choice is to let him join or not. Note that he must not be in the party if you want to recruit Ashlay. Ashlay Berndbelt - you can obtain him by talking to him in the Tatroi Battle Arena and winning a rank in the Arena battles. You can't have Cyuss in your party if you want Ashlay to join. You have a choice of letting him join or not. Needed for recruiting Erys Jerand. You won't be able to get Ashlay after reaching Astral City. You'll need him if you want to recruit Erys Jerand. Ioshua Jerand - first of all, you have to recruit Cyuss, Ashlay or Phia BEFORE reaching Astral Castle. Later, when Phia asks you to go to Purgatorium, agree and finish the quest. Ioshua will offer his help to you. You have the option of inviting him or refusing to let him join. You'll need him to recruit Erys Jerand. Phia Melle - you can get Phia with two ways: with the first way you won't get her SFT, and with the second you will. First way: if you don't have Cyuss or Ashlay in the party, save Phia from her jail in the Astral Castle. She'll ask you to go to the Purgatorium after completing Astral Caves. Note that you won't be able to get Mavelle using this way. Second way: if you have Cyuss or Ashlay, you need to go back to the Astral Castle, and obtain the Astral Emblem. Phia will offer to join you if you have six or less characters in your party. Moreover, she will have her SFT. T'Nique Arcana - not hard to recruit at all. Enter the Battle Arena contest with Roddick and you'll fight him in the final battle at rank D or below. You need two have six or less party members. If you win, he'll join you. Mavelle Froesson - if you have Ioshua (or Ashlay, or both of them), joins automatically at Ionis. If you have Cyuss and not Ioshua, she won't join. You'll need her to recruit Erys Jerand. Pericci - she's quite an elusive character to obtain. After you return from pirate's hideout, pick up the lost Ocarina from the cat-like girl. Then you'll need to wait for the Emblem quest to begin. After starting the Emblem quest, go to Kratus village to start a Private Action. You must talk to Millie, say the name "PERICCI" and play the Ocarina to finally get Pericci to join. Welch Vineyard - not a very difficult character to obtain. After starting the emblem quest, go to Ionis and head in the direction of Van City. There will be two bridges in your path. Between these two bridges there is large forested area to the west. Navigate through the it to find a little house. Pick the first choice to acquire Welch. Note that you must have one free slot in your party. Erys Jerand - to get Erys, go to the Old Race Ruins, situated NE from Silvalant City. You must have Ioshua, Ashlay and Mavelle. Navigate through the ruins until you find Erys. Pick the second option to get her. Note that recruiting Erys means losing Mavelle forever. ========================================================================= VIII. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ========================================================================= 1. What is this game? - This is a remake of the original Star Ocean (Nintendo SNES), which was created by tri-Ace and published by Enix in year 1996. 2. Is this game turn-based or real-time? - Real-time action RPG. 3. Does this game have any connection to Star Ocean: The Second Story for PSOne? - Yes, a little. One of the main protagonists in SO: First Departure, Ronyx J. Kenny, is the father of Claude/Crawd Kenny, the main character of SO: The Second Story. 4. When was this game released? - In Japan - 12/27/2007 In United States - 10/21/2008 In Europe - 10/24/2008. 5. Which is better - this or Star Ocean for PSOne? - Well, there may be a lot of opinions concerning this question, but IMO, Second Story is better in terms of the plot and characters and all the stuff you can do in the game. Which doesn't mean that this game is bad. It's awesome, actually. 6. Are they making a remake of Second Story, too? - Yes, they are. The release of Star Ocean: Second Evolution, a remake of the PSOne title is said to be on 01/06/2009. 7. What has been changed in this version of the original Star Ocean? - Well, the names of the characters and the names of the cities and other places have been completely remade. Some item names got new translation. This game also features new FMV sequences from Production I.G. 8. How many characters are there? - 4 mandatory and 9 optional. 9. I heard there are some new characters. Who are they? - Welch Vineyard from Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and Erys Jerand, except now she's a playable character. 10. What is the max amount of characters who can be in your party? - 8. 11. What is the max level? - 255. 12. Does this game have a 9999 HP cap? - Yes. 13. Does this game have any post-game dungeons like Cave of Trials or Maze of Tribulations? - Yes, the Cave of the Seven Stars is available after saving at the final savepoint. 14. How long is this game? - About 20-30 hours. 15. How do I complete Abandoned Mine? The monsters are one-hit KO'ing me! - You should be at least level 30 to survive there, I would recommend level 40. If you really want the treasures, you can try the famous UMD/ No Encounter Trick. Look for this section in my FAQ. ========================================================================== IX. VERSION HISTORY ========================================================================== October 15, 2008 (Version 0.1) - FAQ created. October 17, 2008 (Version 0.2) - Walkthrough done till Demon World (based on JAP version). October 23, 2008 (Version 0.3) - American translations done. October 24, 2008 (Version 0.4) - Recruitment Guide done. October 25, 2008 (Version 0.5) - Skills, Specialties and IC done. October 27, 2008 (Version 0.6) - Introduction done, formatting the guide complete. October 28, 2008 (Version 0.7) - Side-Quests and Secrets done. October 29, 2008 (Version 0.8) - Walkthrough complete. October 29, 2008 (Version 0.8) - Cave of the Seven Stars done. October 30, 2008 (Version 0.85) - Fixed some JAP-US translation mistakes and fixed Cave of the Seven Stars section. November 3, 2008 (Version 0.86) - Fixed some mistakes in Char. Recruitment and Labyrinth of Champions sections. November 4, 2008 (Version 0.87) - Fixed some Talents section mistakes. November 11, 2008 (Version 0.9) - Special Arts/Symbology done. December 22, 2008 (Final Version) - Gabriella strategy done. FAQ completed. ========================================================================== X. CREDITS ========================================================================== Most of the information was obtained from the IKelley's FAQ for the SFC version of Star Ocean, it was a great help and by actually playing the game. Thanks to all the users of the GameFAQs message board of this game. I've learned some valuable information from their posts and to all the people who pointed out the mistakes in my FAQ (especially Ascentarias, knyxx, Tyrfing, VeghEsther). Major props to nogardrebyc for the help with IC and to Dan Chen for the help with Gabriella strategy. Some information was taken from CC's, G Angel's and Kouli's walkthroughs and from http://na.square-enix.com/starocean/firstdeparture/. ========================================================================== XI. CONTACT INFO ========================================================================== This guide is copyright (c) Damage_dealer 2008. It is only meant to be posted on www.gamefaqs.com I am aware this guide is incomplete in terms of some content, but I will try to update it every now and then. Send any questions, corrections, suggestions or feedback to damagedealer@ukr.net Not everything has been verified in the American version before being included in the FAQ, so if you've found a mistake, feel free to e-mail me at any time.